International Affairs

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) organised an interactive video-conference session with the participation of Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sri Lanka (FCCISL) and Colombo Chamber of Commerce to discuss trade and investment opportunities between the two countries post COVID19. Officials from High Commission of India, Colombo and High Commission of Sri Lanka, New Delhi also participated in the discussion.

WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday placed more pressure on states to reopen for business despite continuing concerns about the coronavirus.

The European Union (EU) has decided to provide a grant of 3.5 million euros (Rs. 728 million) to boost Sri Lanka’s tourism industry hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and calls on Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) to provide relevant proposals soon.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has asked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for USD 1.1 billion as a special swap facility to help Sri Lanka deal with foreign exchange issues.

Continuing the ongoing efforts for repatriation of Indian nationals stranded in Sri Lanka ,an Indian Naval Ship INS Jalashwa will make a voyage to Tuticorin from Colombo Port on 01st June 2020.

The G-20 debt suspension initiative is unlikely to ease the significant credit challenges that the coronavirus pandemic has amplified in some frontier market sovereigns, particularly in Africa and South Asia including Sri Lanka, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report this week.

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. disarmament chief said the COVID-19 pandemic is moving the world toward increased technological innovation and online collaboration but warned that "cybercrime is also on the rise, with a 600 percent increase in malicious emails during the current crisis."

එක්සත් අරාබි එමිර් රාජ්‍යයේ පිහිටා තිබෙන අබුඩාබි තානාපති කාර්යාලය වසා දමා ඇත්තේ එහි සේවකයින් 05 දෙනෙකුට කොරෝනා වෛරසය ආසාදනය වීමෙන් බව විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශය සඳහන් කර සිටිනවා.

The Indian High Commission in Colombo yesterday said that a special Air India flight has been scheduled on 29 May to repatriate the stranded Indian nationals in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan and Indian Trade Bodies are now set to promote bilateral Trade and Investment in post COVID19, a Senior Indian diplomat said.

The United States noted the importance of ensuring accountability in Sri Lanka saying it will foster long term stability and prosperity.

The Covid-19 vaccine development and deployment in China, when available, will be made a global public good, Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday (18) at the opening of the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly.

බි‍්‍රගේඩියර් පි‍්‍රයංක ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මේජර් ජනරාල් ධුරයකට උසස් කිරීම සහ රණවිරුවන්ට එරෙහිව කිසිඳු කි‍්‍රයාමාර්ගයක් ගැනීමට ඉඩ නොතබන බවට ජනපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා පසුගියදා රණවිරු සැමරුම අමතා කළ ප‍්‍රකාශයට එරෙහිව රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන කණ්ඩායමක් එසැනින් ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයට පැමිණිලි කර ඇත.

The United States noted the importance of ensuring accountability in Sri Lanka saying it will foster long term stability and prosperity.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issuing a statement on the anniversary of the end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, has called for Sri Lanka to pursue a meaningful accountability process

NEW YORK - The United Nations launched an initiative Thursday to counter the spread of online misinformation related to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Embassy of Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has temporarily closed until further notice.

GENEVA - World leaders attending the first-ever virtual World Health Assembly have called on nations to unite to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the first cases of the deadly disease were declared in China in December, the WHO has reported more than 4.7 million infections around the world, including more than 315,000 deaths.