Page 10 - India-sri Lanka

Govt to not allow SL to be used as base for any threats against India: Prez

Assuring that Sri Lanka will not be utilised as a base for any threats against India, Wickremesinghe emphasised that his nation is a neutral one

Sri Lanka resolved most of its problems with support from India: Rajapakshe

Sri Lankan minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe has praised the Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for helping his country during the economic and political crisis. He also said the Sri Lankan government will soon set up Truth and Reconciliation Commission to bring long-standing peace to the island nation with consensus from all communities. The minister further said the Sri Lankan government is holding continuous interactions with the Tamil diaspora and people and leaders living in different parts of the world. "We resolved most of our problems with the support we got from the Indian government led by PM Modi. We are hopeful to bring normalcy back to Sri Lanka" Rajapakshe, who handles the Justice Department, told PTI on Saturday on the sidelines of the Peace Conference in Nagpur city of Maharashtra. Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022 that also sparked political turmoil in the island nation which led to the ouster of the all-powerful ...

Sri Lanka lifts import restrictions on 286 items as economic woes eases

Sri Lanka has lifted import restrictions on nearly 300 items with immediate effect, the Finance Ministry announced on Saturday, in a clear sign that the island nation is slowly but surely emerging from its worst economic crisis in decades. Last year, Sri Lanka plunged into its worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948 due to plummeting foreign exchange reserves that caused severe shortages of essential items and triggered massive public protests. In April 2022, Sri Lanka declared its international debt default due to the forex crisis. Sri Lanka's economic situation has improved after it secured a USD 3 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in March. The IMF lifeline helped Sri Lanka bolster its foreign exchange reserves and stabilise the spiralling inflation. With the economy stabilising, import restrictions on 286 items have been lifted from Friday midnight, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. Restrictions on 928 items will continue,

Gujarat firm gets notice as poor-quality eye drops infect 30 Sri Lankans

Pharmexcil has sought an explanation from the Gujarat-based firm on the internal investigation within the next two days, the reports said

India played key role in IMF's clearance of 48-month EFF to Sri Lanka

India played a crucial role in the International Monetary Fund (IMF's) clearance of a 48-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF) worth USD 2.9 billion to crisis-hit Sri Lanka, reported True Ceylon

India hopes for SL's early recovery from economic crisis: Commissioner

India on Tuesday expressed hope that Sri Lanka would soon achieve early economic recovery, with the Indian Deputy High Commissioner here, reaffirming New Delhi's steadfast support to the island nation through the crisis. Sri Lanka has been struck by a catastrophic economic and humanitarian crisis sparked by years of mismanagement and the raging pandemic. Vinod K Jacob, the Deputy High Commissioner of India, speaking at the Coordination Forum of Development Partners of Sri Lanka, said that "India had steadfastly supported the people of Sri Lanka through the economic crisis as well as at the IMF," a press release by the Indian High Commission in Colombo said. Jacob expressed hope that Sri Lanka will achieve early economic recovery. Explaining the flagship development cooperation partnership between Delhi and Colombo, the Deputy High Commissioner said that the engagement was based on the principles of South-South cooperation between friendly neighbours. The projects are selected in l

India, Sri Lanka to jointly build solar power plant in island nation

India and Sri Lanka have agreed to jointly build in two stages a 135-megawatt solar power plant in the island nation's eastern port district of Trincomalee to promote renewable energy. Sri Lankan Cabinet has given approval for the project as the country aims to generate 70 per cent of its electricity requirement by 2030 from renewable energy sources. "The National Thermal Power Corporation of India and the Ceylon Electricity Board have entered into an agreement to jointly implement a solar power project in two stages," said a note from the Cabinet meeting held this week. "As the first stage of this project, it is expected to implement a solar power project of 50 megawatts with a total estimated investment of USD 42.5 million and to construct a 220 kilowatts transmission line with 40-km length from Sampoor to Kappalthure spending USD 23.6 million, it said. It is expected to complete this stage in two years from 2024 to 2025," it said. A solar power generation plant with an additiona

India will help Sri Lanka in oil sector despite recent changes: Officials

Colombo awards licences to three foreign firms, including a Chinese one, to operate in retail fuel market

SL, India to sign a deal to shift to renewable energy to generate power

Sri Lanka will sign a memorandum of understanding with India to promote renewable energy as the Island nation aims to generate 70 per cent of electricity requirements from renewable sources by 2030

Sri Lanka to seek fresh $1 billion credit from India to buy essential items

Sri Lanka would seek a new temporary credit facility of USD 1 billion from India to purchase essential items including food and medicine, the official media here reported on Monday. Sri Lanka received 333 million dollars, the first tranche of the USD 3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme last week to overcome its economic crisis and catalyse financial support from other development partners. The Sri Lankan finance ministry officials held talks with its Indian counterparts to obtain the new temporary USD 1 billion facility for the "purchase of essential foodstuff, medicines and other goods for the country," the state-run Daily News newspaper reported. Meanwhile, former Central Bank Governor Dr Indrajith Coomaraswamy, speaking at a discussion organised by the Centre for Banking Studies of the Central Bank, said, the negotiations are also underway to secure an Indian rupee swap from RBI. The amount is still uncertain; it could be up to the equivalent of USD 1 .

Indian delegation calls on Wickremesinghe for alliance in energy sector

A high-level Indian delegation called on Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe here on Sunday and briefed him on the developments in the jointly-identified priority areas for collaboration in the energy sector. President Wickremesinghe provided his insights on the early implementation of these initiatives, the Indian High Commission in Colombo said. It said India would gift Sri Lanka 500 solar-powered indoor cooking systems. The Lanka India Oil Company (LIOC), the local operator of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), said the visiting Secretary to the ministry of power and natural gas Pankaj Jain and Chairman IOC Shrikant Madhav Vaidya had earlier visited the Trincomalee eastern Sri Lanka's IOC terminal. Sri Lanka and India run a joint venture storing fuel in the World War II time storage tanks in Trincomalee. Jain had inaugurated three new LIOC retail fuel sheds in their ongoing expansion whilst addressing the chamber of commerce and attended a meeting of chief executive officers

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India continues to support debt-ridden Sri Lanka, distributes ration

India, under its 'Neighbourhood First' policy, has always come forward to help debt-ridden Sri Lanka, and in the latest instance has distributed the ration in Kalmunai, the Indian High Commission said

Sri Lanka in talks to extend $1 bn Indian credit line as IMF deal looms

Sri Lanka is negotiating with India to extend a $1 billon credit line by a few months, as the island nation tries to line up funds for the rest of the year

Bank of Ceylon, SBI, Indian Bank talk benefit of rupee trade in Colombo

Following the Russia-Ukraine war and the sanctions imposed by the West, India has been trying to promote rupee trade

Indo-US strategic allies hold up Sri Lanka's struggling politics, economy

India and the United states have been strengthening their strategic partnership to assist Sri Lanka's political and economic stability.The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee expressed concern about the postponement of Local Government (LG) elections in light of Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe's declaration that there are insufficient funds to hold local government elections and his assumption of office to lead the nation in rescuing Sri Lanka from its severe economic crisis without holding elections, Mawrata News reported.The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee criticised the postponement of the local government elections in Sri Lanka, which is igniting public anger. According to them, any effort to muffle the voice of the Sri Lankan people is categorically undemocratic and a flagrant violation of their rights. They suggested having democratic municipal elections straight away.With a focus on boosting security and fostering economic growth, India and the US have ...

India, Sri Lanka mulling over using Indian Rupee for economic transactions

India and Sri Lanka are exploring the possibility of using the Indian Rupee for economic transactions and have discussed the initiative that will help in building a stronger and closer partnership through trade and investment-led measures between the two countries. The High Commission of India here organised a discussion on the use of the Indian Rupee (INR) for transactions between India and Sri Lanka on Thursday. "Representatives from the Bank of Ceylon, State Bank of India and the Indian Bank shared their experiences and informed the audience that they had started carrying out INR-denominated trade transactions through respective Vostro/Nostro accounts after the creation of enabling framework by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) in 2022," the High Commission said in a statement. The participating banks also outlined the benefits of settlements denominated in INR which includes shorter timelines, lower exchange costs and easier availability of

India, Sri Lanka review security cooperation at annual defence dialogue

Top defence officials of India and Sri Lanka have held the seventh edition of their annual dialogue during which the two sides reviewed the bilateral defence and security cooperation and identified new avenues for engagement. The two-day meeting of the 7th edition of the Annual Defence Dialogue (ADD) between India and Sri Lanka, which began in New Delhi on Thursday was chaired by Defence Secretary Giridhar Armane and his Sri Lankan counterpart General Kamal Gunaratne. During the meeting which ended on Saturday, the two sides reviewed the defence and security cooperation, the Indian High Commission said here. Various ongoing defence cooperation initiatives were jointly reviewed and new avenues for engagement were identified during the ADD, it said. Sri Lanka's delegation included Air Marshal SK Pathirana, Commander of Sri Lanka Air Force along with senior officers from the Sri Lanka Army and the Navy. The Indian delegation included officials from the Ministry of Defence, Headquarte

Lankan govt gives temporary green light to import of eggs from India

A temporary permission had been granted to import eggs for a period of two months

PM says Jaffna Cultural Centre signifies close cooperation between India-SL

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Jaffna Cultural Centre, which was inaugurated on Saturday, an "important initiative" signifying the close cooperation between India and Sri Lanka