A public rally of the SLPP is scheduled to be held today (09) at the Salgaduwa Stadium in Anuradhapura.
The massive rally led by President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa is scheduled to begin at 2.00 pm today.
This is the first rally held by the SLPP at the national level in a long time.
Opposition groups these days say the government’s popularity has plummeted. The extent to which that is true will be seen at the Pohottu rally today.
The Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa said that in many cases, the victories and fame of this country were achieved by the younger generation.
He said that the youth of any country is the key factor in determining the future of that country and it is very important to manage that youth properly.
“Youth represent a quarter of Sri Lanka’s population and we have a large number of heroes who have conquered the world through sports,” he said.
The Leader of the Opposition said that Induka Devi Kanesh, who brought fame to Sri Lanka through the sport of kickboxing today, was born in Vavuniya and he hopes that she would bring more fame to this motherland with gold.
Induka Devi Kanesh, who won the gold medal in the under 25 55 kg weight class at the Sri Lanka-Pakistan Kickboxing Championship, met the Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa at the Opposition Leader’s Office yesterday (08).
The Leader of the Opposition congratulated her and awarded her a financial aid of Rs. 100,000.
Premadasa also assured that he would support her in any way she could at any time. The meeting was organized by the Samagi Vanitha Balawegaya.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Ajith Nivard Cabraal says that although many people think that the shortage of dollars in Sri Lanka is due to the fact that we do not have dollars, that opinion is wrong.
“Many people think that we have a shortage of dollars because we do not have dollars. If we do not have dollars, how did we import $ 22 billion worth of goods last year? And how did we import $ 2 billion worth of goods last month? So we definitely have dollars. There is also a high demand for dollars. That’s not a bad thing. Then we have to find a foreign exchange to support it. In such a case, it is our duty and responsibility to reduce the use of dollars outside the prescribed system or to introduce alternative measures. ”
The Governor of the Central Bank said this addressing a function held in Colombo yesterday (08).
Sri Lanka will set up a new High Court for investment disputes for large investors in as well as a new arbitration law for foreign investors amid long delays in getting decisions in the court system of the island.
The cabinet of ministers had given the go ahead of to draw up a Investment Disputes High Court Act under proposals made by Commercial Law Reform Subcommittee operating under a special unit of the Ministry of Justic.
The Investment Disputes Tribunal will hear and decide the cases related relating to amounts of 50 million rupees arising out of an initial investment of 100 million or more.
Sri Lanka will also enact a new arbitration law.
“The Committee further recommended the need to impose provisions in the proposed Act to address existing barriers at the arbitration stage as well as at the enforcement stage of arbitration decisions to enable large scale domestic and foreign investment in Sri Lanka,” a government statement said.
The legal draftsman had been given the go ahead to draw up the law.
Government is set to introduce a Unitary Digital Identity framework for Sri Lankans with Indian grant, official sources confirmed.
A Memorandum of Understanding will be signed with India to obtain this grant to implement the Digital Identity scheme ,Ministry of Technology announced.
It has decided to prioritise the implementation of this Framework for Sri Lanka as a national level programme.
Under the proposed Unitary Digital Identity Framework, it is expected to introduce a personal identity verification device based on bio metric data, a digital tool that can represent the identities of individuals in cyberspace.
The identification of individual identities can be accurately verified in digital and physical environments by combining the two devices, a senior official of the ministry disclosed.
During the bilateral talks between the President and the Prime Minister of India in December 2019, the Government of India agreed to provide a grant to implement the Unitary Digital Identity framework.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal made by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Technology, to work towards the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to obtain the said grant and to implement the proposed project under that grant.
It also comes amid substantive economic assistance from India – totalling US $ 1.4 billion since the beginning of this year – to Sri Lanka, to help the island nation cope with its dollar crunch, and import food, medicines and fuel amid frequent shortages.
While India has confirmed support for Sri Lanka’s effort to transition to a digital identity system, there is no official information yet on the value of the grant, and whether it would include technological support or training. Queried on the specifics of the agreement, Colombo-based official sources said the terms of the agreement are “being worked out”.
This is not the first time that Sri Lanka is attempting to digitise its citizens’ identities. Just a few years ago, the predecessor Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe administration, in power from 2015 to 2019, mooted a similar Electronic National Identity Card or E-NIC that privacy advocates opposed on grounds that the state would have full access to citizens’ personal data in a central database.
The former Mahinda Rajapaksa government tried initiating the project as early as 2011. Neither project was implemented.
The unitary digital identification framework has been prepared jointly by Sri Lanka Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) and the Department of Registration of Persons whereas implementation of the project of electronic national identity cards has been recognised as one component under it,” Minister Ramesh Pathirana said.
Granting approval for the unitary digital identification framework for Sri Lanka that has been finalised by the Committee entrusted with the planning of the relevant programmes.
At the invitation extended by the Government of Iran, the Sri Lanka Embassy in Iran participated in the 15th Tehran International Tourism Exhibition – TITE held in Tehran from 29 January to 01 February 2022. Thousands of visitors representing more than 30 countries participated in the event while the active domestic and foreign companies in the field of tourism showcased their services.
With the assistance of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, the Embassy showcased Sri Lanka as a healthy travel destination to Iranian travel agents and travelers through tourism promotional videos, tourism brooches and leaflets which were played and distributed during the event. The Embassy staff shared the details of prominent Sri Lankan travel companies that organize tours in Sri Lanka among the represented international tourist agencies to link each other.
During the Exhibition, Ambassador Vipulatheja Wishwanath Aponsu met Deputy Minister of Tourism of Iran Ali Asghar Shalbafian Hossein Abadi and discussed ways and means to develop tourism exchanges between Sri Lanka and Iran. He briefed the recent developments in the tourism sector in Sri Lanka and described the country’s uniqueness as an amazing tourist destination particularly wildlife, authentic cuisine and unique Ayuruveda medicine system. The Deputy Minister assured his fullest support to further enhance tourism cooperation between the two countries.
At the meeting, Chairman of the Association of Air Transport and Tourism Agencies of Iran Hormatollah Rafiei appreciated the active participation of Ambassador and his staff at the Exhibition. He further stated the interest of his Association to work together with the Sri Lankan Tourist Associations in promoting tourism and expanding people-to-people contact between the two countries. Ambassador Wishwanath Aponsu underlined that a joint venture in the tourism sector will bolster ties between Sri Lanka and Iran and help to expand the bilateral cooperation in other sectors.
The Ambassador visited the pavilions of Isfahan and Shiraz, cities that are under the UNESCO world heritage sites and had discussions with Director General of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization of Isfahan Dr. Alireza Eizadi and Director General of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization of Shiraz Dr. Mohsen Ameri, to promote Sri Lankan tourism in the respective provinces.
Sri Lanka Embassy
Tehran
08 February 2022
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation should also be increasing the price of fuel in parallel with the price surge declared by the Lanka IOC, said CEYPETCO Chairman W.W.D. Sumith Wijesinghe, revealing that a request has been made to the government in this regard.
Revealing that the CEYPETCO is incurring a loss of Rs. 05 per litre of petrol and Rs. 32.50 per litre of diesel in January, the Chairman noted that the loss incurred by the Corporation has increased due to the IOC price revision. In the backdrop, the customers are also tempted to purchase duel from petrol stations owned by the CEYPETCO, he added.
Accordingly, chances are high that the fuel prices at the CEYPETCO will also surge in the next few days. Nevertheless, the government stated today (08) that no discussions have been held so far regarding a price surge in fuel.
MIAP
The number of Covid infections identified on a daily basis has surged following the spread of the omicron variant in Sri Lanka, and 1253 new infections were reported today (08).
Accordingly, the total number of Covid-19 cases confirmed in Sri Lanka has climbed up to 621,985.
Meanwhile, 405 persons under medical observation have been discharged.
The total number of persons under medical care is 24,265.
MIAP
With 35 more Covid related deaths confirmed by the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) yesterday (07) the death toll due to the Covid-19 outbreak in Sri Lanka has climbed up to 15,656.
These deaths mark the highest figure after two months. The figure exceeded 30 on January 31, marking 32 fatalities.
The daily death toll was below 20 over the last month.
Sri Lankan Cricketer Kusal Mendis has tested positive for Covid-19. Mendis, who was sent as a regular in the Sri Lanka 20/20 team to Australia for a 20/20 tournament, has been referred to isolation in Sydney.
A number of players nominated for the tour had previously been infected with the virus and Chamika Karunaratne, who was recently recovered, left for Australia today (08). Nuwa Thushara left yesterday with temporary coach of the SLC team Rumesh Rathnayake.
The five-match Aussie – Sri Lanka 20 / 20 series set to commence on February 11.