International Affairs

Vatican City (Reuters): Pope Francis said on Wednesday employers must respect the dignity of workers, particularly migrants, despite economic difficulties brought on by the coronavirus crisis.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday called for debt relief and fiscal stimulus for middle-income countries, including Sri Lanka, noting that the COVID-19 outbreak has created an unprecedented challenge for a large number of developing countries.

Gearing up for the much needed COVID-19 vaccines, the World Health Organisation this week organised a meeting of vaccine manufacturers and national regulatory authorities from its Southeast Asia region.

Despite repeated denials of Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa that Sri Lanka still not received any foreign aid to sustain in corona virus crisis, the United States has announced the commitment of more than US$ 4.5 million to help Sri Lanka in its fight against Covid-19.

Australia has extended its support to Sri Lanka prepare for, and prevent, the spread of COVID-19, and to manage the social and economic impacts to come.

GENEVA/LONDON (Reuters): Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gave a robust defence on Friday of his and the World Health Organisation's (WHO) "timely" actions in declaring COVID-19 an international health emergency at the end of January.

කොවිඩ් 19 වෛරසයට එන්නතක් සොයාගත නොහැකි වීමේ වැඩි සම්භාවිතාවක් පවතින බව කොවිඩ් 19 වසංගතය පිළිබඳ ලෝක සෞඛ්‍ය සංවිධානයේ විශේෂ නියෝජිත වෛද්‍ය ඩේවිඩ් නැබ්රෝ ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටියි.

හදිසි අවස්ථාවන්හිදී ක්‍රියාත්මක වන හොදම කණ්ඩායම සහිත ලෝකයේ දෙවන හමුදාව ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුධ හමුදාව ලෝක සෞඛ්‍ය සංවිධානය විසින් නම් කර ඇති බව යුධ හමුදාපති ලුතිනන් ජනරාල් ශවේන්ද්‍ර සිල්වා පවසයි.

Sri Lanka will be seeking at least US$ 2 billion in financial contributions from foreign donors and International lending agencies for medium-term external debt, servicing and rebuild the economy.

A new study led by the U.S. government has found that a new strain of the novel coronavirus that is prevailing worldwide is spreading faster than earlier versions.

India today reiterated its commitment to continue its people-oriented development partnership with Sri Lanka, as per Sri Lanka’s own requirements. Head of Economic and Commercial Wing, High Commission of India, Ms. Suja K. Menon said.

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah received Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Kuwait Othman Jawhar yesterday, Thursday, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඇමරිකානු තානාපතිනිය ඇලයිනා ටෙප්ලිට්ස් අද පෙරවරුවේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මුණ ගැසී සාකච්ඡාවක් පවත්වා තිබෙනවා.

A new high-pressure ventilator developed by NASA engineers and tailored to treat coronavirus (COVID-19) patients today was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use under the FDA’s March 24 ventilator Emergency Use Authorization.

Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka David Holly and Australian Defence Adviser Group Captain Sean Unwin yesterday handed over Australian supplied Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, Head of National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak

Indian companies have been called upon to strengthen existing partnerships, while also looking for new opportunities for collaboration.

A final report by the Commonwealth Observer Group (COG) says Sri Lanka’s 2019 Presidential Election was well-managed and transparent but urges greater inclusivity in future.

China has offered to help Sri Lanka rebuild the economy which has suffered as a result of the coronavirus.