International Affairs

The importance of focusing on trade and economic relations between the two countries was highlighted as a key to enhance bilateral relations at the Webinar titled ‘50 Years of Viet Nam - Sri Lanka Relations: Achievements and Prospects’ organised to mark the historical milestone of 50 years of the establishment of Sri Lanka and Viet Nam formal diplomatic relations.

Leaked documents allege that some of the world’s largest banks have allowed $2 trillion worth of suspicious or fraudulent activity to take place, including money laundering for criminal gangs and terrorists.

NEW YORK CITY - The United Nations marked its 75th anniversary Monday amid a global pandemic and other serious challenges that the secretary-general said highlight the urgency for stronger international cooperation.

The Riyadh Chamber of Commerce (RCC), under its International Trade Cooperation initiative, has extended their assistance towards Sri Lankan companies who are interested in having business linkages with Saudi companies.

WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President Donald Trump called on the United Nations to “hold China accountable for their actions” in a speech to the world body’s General Assembly Tuesday.

The Ambassador of Arab Republic of Egypt in Colombo Hussein El Saharty paid a courtesy call on Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena last week for a cordial discussion on matters of mutual interest.

Face masks are no longer mandatory on public transport in most of New Zealand as Covid-19 cases continue to drop.

Australia and Sri Lanka had talks today on ways to expand the partnership between both countries.

Statement by Sri Lanka during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non- recurrence at the 45th Session of the Human Rights Council was made by Ms Dayani Mendis, Actg. Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva on 17 September 2020

ඩාවුඩ් බෝරා ප්‍රජාවේ නායකයා ඇතුළු 54 දෙනකුගෙන් යුත් කණ්ඩායම ඉදිරි සතිය ඇතුළත ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණීමට සැලසුම් කර ඇතැයි වාර්තාවේ. බෝරා නායක සයිඩ්නා මුෆඩාල් සයිෆ්‍රඩීන් ඇතුළු ඔහුගේ පිරිස මීට පෙර ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණීමට සැලසුම් කර තිබුණේ පසුගිය ජුනි මාසයේදීය.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka had talks on several matters today including on major regional and global issues.

NEW YORK - World leaders will meet virtually at the United Nations starting Monday, as they discuss international cooperation to halt the spread of COVID-19.

Confirmed cases of the virus have surpassed 30 million and reached nearly 1 million deaths globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the coronavirus has exposed the world's growing inequalities and threatens decades of development gains. He has cautioned that a vaccine will not by itself solve the crisis.

"We need to massively expand new and existing tools that can respond to new cases and provide vital treatment to suppress transmission and save lives, especially over the next 12 months," Guterres told reporters Wednesday.

There will be more than 80 virtual meetings covering all aspects of COVID-19, including a high-level session on September 30. It will be co-hosted by the U.N. secretary-general, the World Health Organization (WHO), along with Britain and South Africa, and will focus on coordinating the global pandemic response, including making a future vaccine affordable and accessible to all.

The U.N. has been at the forefront of the effort to mitigate global warming, and the U.N. chief has said that a green recovery from COVID is critical for the planet.

"The world is burning," Guterres said. "Recovery is our chance to get on track and tame the flames."

Climate action will be in the spotlight at several events, including a high-level roundtable on September 24 and a biodiversity summit the following week.

The Sri Lankan Embassy in Qatar announced that it will be closed for a period of two weeks.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Sri Lanka's Ambassador to Moscow Meegahalande Durage Lamawansa said on Monday he planned getting inoculated with Russia's vaccine against COVID-19, dubbed Sputnik V, in the near future.

ISLAMABAD - Delegates of Afghanistan’s government and the Taliban continue finalizing “rules of negotiations” for a power-sharing deal a week after the two foes launched their historic U.S.-brokered direct peace dialogue.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa are to discuss a wide rand of issues during a Virtual Bilateral Summit on Saturday, 26 September 2020, the Foreign Ministry said today.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi will hold bilateral discussions on September 26 to further strengthen ties between the two governments, as well as discuss possible development projects between India and Sri Lanka, sources from the Prime Minister's office told Daily Mirror yesterday.

චීනය විසින් හිමිකාරීත්වය දරණ ටික් ටොක් සහ වී චැට් යන සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ඇප් තහනම් කිරීමට අමෙරිකාව සූදානම් වනවා.