Page 17 - Sri Lanka

Shaurya Aeronautics, Russian firm awarded management of Matta airport

A joint venture between an Indian and a Russian firm have been awarded the management of Sri Lanka's Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Hambantota, the government spokesman said on Friday. The USD 209 million facility was once dubbed the "world's emptiest airport" due to a lack of flights. The Sri Lankan Cabinet, which met on January 9, approved the calling of Expression of Interest by prospective parties, government spokesman and minister Bandula Gunawardena told reporters here. Accordingly, five proposals were received, and the Cabinet-appointed consultative committee decided to award a management contract spanning 30 years to Shaurya Aeronautics (Pvt) Ltd of India and Airports of Regions Management Company of Russia. The Cabinet approved the proposal submitted by the minister of civil aviation and airport services, Gunawardena said. Mattala Airport, named after former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was one of the major infrastructure projects of Rajapaksa's nearly decade-

Sri Lanka approves IMF-backed law to seize any proceeds from crimes

The Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) will allow for the judicial freezing and forfeiture of proceeds of crime and establishes a new authority to manage such seized assets

China's Sinopec charts global expansion with refinery in India's backyard

India is also deepening its involvement in Sri Lanka's power sector with solar projects and grid connectivity

US, Sri Lanka to conduct joint maritime drill ahead of Iranian Prez's visit

The US Navy, the US Marine Corps, and the Sri Lankan Navy will conduct a bilateral maritime joint exercise from Monday, including anti-terrorism manoeuvres, the American mission here said. The joint exercise called the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) gets underway two days before the proposed visit of Iran President Ebrahim Raisi to the island nation to inaugurate an Iranian-funded hydropower project. However, the confirmation of the visit, happening in the current backdrop of Israeli-Iranian tensions, is yet to be announced by the Sri Lankan authorities. CARAT Sri Lanka will feature the expertise of the US Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST), a US Marine Corps unit specialised in security and anti-terrorism for naval assets, engaging alongside their Sri Lanka Navy Marine counterparts on a full spectrum of naval capabilities, according to an official press release. The CARAT Sri Lanka bilateral maritime exercise underscores the strong partnership and shared

7 people killed, 20 injured as racing car veers off track in Sri Lanka

The injured were taken to Diyatalawa Base Hospital and are currently undergoing treatment

Bharti Airtel signs deal to merge Sri Lankan unit with Dialog Axiata

Airtel Lanka to have 10.35% voting shares in the merged entity, according to agreement

Sri Lanka govt, Oppn trade barbs over failure to reach bondholder agreement

Sri Lanka continues to engage all debt restructuring negotiations in good faith, within principles of equitable treatment among creditors with maximum transparency, the government has said as it faced criticism from the Opposition for maintaining secrecy over the debt restructuring process. The government on Tuesday announced that it failed to reach an agreement with its international bondholders for restructuring around USD 12 billion in debt. The main opposition's economy spokesman Harsha de Silva in a statement said they were disappointed with the lack of transparency in the debt restructuring process. .It is obvious that that government has failed to strike a deal favourable to the people of Sri Lanka, de Silva of Samagi Jana Balawegaya party added. It is clear that the participating bondholders do not want to move away from the original structure they proposed based on the performance of the Sri Lanka economy to be measured on their much higher alternative baseline as opposed

IMF ready to support Sri Lanka's discussions with int'l bondholders

Sri Lanka will consult with the IMF to assess if the latest proposals discussed with bondholders were within the parameters of its bailout program

Bharti Airtel to merge Sri Lanka ops with Dialog Axiata in equity swap deal

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel will merge its Sri Lanka operations with Dialog Axiata in an equity swap deal, a joint statement said on Thursday. Airtel Lanka's turnover in financial year 2023 was Rs 294 crore and it contributed 0.21 per cent to Bharti Airtel's overall business. "Dialog Axiata PLC , Axiata Group Berhad (Axiata) and Bharti Airtel Limited signed a definitive agreement to combine their operations in Sri Lanka," the statement said. Under the agreement, Sri Lanka-based telecom operator Dialog will acquire 100 per cent of the issued shares in Airtel Lanka, in consideration of which Dialog will issue to Bharti Airtel, ordinary voting shares which will amount to 10.355 per cent of the total issued shares of Dialog by way of a share swap, it said. Airtel Sri Lanka commenced commercial operations in Sri Lanka in 2009. "The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) has granted its approval for the proposed merger, underscoring its vision to advance the ..

Sri Lanka fails to strike agreement on restructuring terms with bondholders

Sri Lanka plunged into its worst financial crisis since independence from the British in 1948 after its foreign exchange reserves ran to catastrophic lows in early 2022

India allows export of 10,000 tonnes of onion to Sri Lanka, eases ban

Directorate General of Foreign Trade says India has approved 79,160 tonnes of onions for export, overriding a ban imposed in December

Uncertainty over elections could risk Sri Lanka's economic recovery: ADB

The "uncertainty" over the impending elections in Sri Lanka will cause a possible downward trend in the country's economic outlook, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said. The island nation is set to face a presidential election in the last quarter of this year, while the parliamentary election is due mid-next year. However, political uncertainty prevails in the country as opposition parties have pledged to reverse the current IMF-linked reforms, which have proved to be unpopular with the masses. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has steered the recovery programme by going into a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a USD 2.9 billion facility, maintains that the island could once again face economic collapse if the IMF programme reforms are not adhered to. Outlining the economic risks Sri Lanka is facing, the ADB in its South Asian chapter's economic trends report released yesterday said, Among them the most important is uncertainty associated with the .

'No ground' for India's request for return of Katchatheevu: Lanka minister

The statements coming out of India on "reclaiming" Kachchatheevu island from Sri Lanka have "no ground", the Sri Lankan Minister of Fisheries Douglas Devananda has said. The senior Sri Lankan Tamil politician's comments came days after the Narendra Modi government targeted the Congress Party and its ally the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu accusing them of overlooking national interests in the ceding of Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka in 1974. The BJP has also been targeting the two parties for not ensuring the rights of the fishermen wanting to fish in waters around the Katchatheevu island. It is the election time in India, it is not unusual to hear such noises of claims and counterclaims about Kachchatheevu," Devananda told reporters in Jaffna on Thursday. I think India is acting on its interests to secure this place to ensure Sri Lankan fishermen would not have any access to that area and that Sri Lanka should not claim any rights in that resourceful area, Devanan

Sri Lanka unaware of ship carrying toxic waste from the US, say official

Sri Lanka is not yet aware of the nature of hazardous materials on the cargo vessel that collided with a key Baltimore bridge last week as it was supposed to declare the contents of containers only 72 hours before the time of arrival into the Colombo Port, officials here said. The Singapore-flagged container ship vessel Dali, which was mainly manned by an Indian crew, collided with the 2.6-km-long four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River in Baltimore in the early hours of March 26. The 984-foot cargo ship was bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka. The ship was carrying 764 tonnes of hazardous materials as reported by the US media. According to the information available, there are 57 containers with such toxic materials that can be categorised under the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code. The waste included mostly corrosives, flammables, miscellaneous hazardous materials, and Class-9 hazardous materials, including explosives & lithium-ion batteries in 56 ...

Katchatheevu: Why getting Sri Lanka to see Indian POV may be an uphill task

BJP claims that the Congress government led by Indira Gandhi gave away Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka in 1974

Before Katchatheevu, there was Bengal's Berubari: How a CM took on PM Nehru

The Berubari case went on to affect the Katchatheevu matter decades later, with opponents of the island's transfer to Sri Lanka citing it as a reason to reclaim the territory

19 fishermen detained by Sri Lanka return home: Indian High Commission

As many as 19 Indian fishermen detained by the Sri Lanka Navy were on Wednesday repatriated to India after being released by authorities here, the Indian High Commission said. "Returning home! 19 Indian fishermen have been repatriated from Sri Lanka and are now on their way from Colombo to Chennai," the Indian High Commission here said in a post on X. The Navy has so far held 23 Indian trawlers and 178 Indian fishermen for allegedly fishing in the island nation's waters thus far in 2024, and handed them over to authorities for legal action, the Sri Lankan Navy late last month confirmed in a statement. The fishermen issue is a contentious one in the ties between India and Sri Lanka, with Lankan Navy personnel even firing at Indian fishermen in the Palk Strait and seizing their boats in several alleged incidents of illegally entering Sri Lankan territorial waters. The release of 19 Indian fishermen comes amidst a row over the Katchatheevu island issue after India's ruling BJP blamed

Stalin slams BJP for 'somersault' on Katchatheevu, says PM has no guts

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has said that the BJP has done a "somersault" on the Katchatheevu issue since the Lok Sabha polls are round the corner. Stalin claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not have the guts to neither condemn Sri Lanka over fishermen arrests nor oppose China on its claims over Arunachal Pradesh. When that is the case, how can he talk about Katchatheevu, he said. In an election rally here on Tuesday, the president of the ruling DMK hit out at Modi for staging a "drama" and coming up with "stories" on the Katchatheevu issue and dubbed the disclosures by the Centre on the matter under the RTI Act as "wrong information." He asked how the government had given "wrong information" concerning the nation's security under the RTI Act to an individual belonging to the BJP (Tamil Nadu state chief K Annamalai). The BJP government had earlier failed to provide answers on Katchatheevu by stating that the subject was subjudice as the matter was pending before

DMK spreading false propaganda on Katchatheevu, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday accused the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu of spreading a false campaign on the Katchatheevu islet, ceded to Sri Lanka by India in 1974, and for making "irresponsible" statements on the issue. Then DMK president and TN Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was aware of the ruling Congress' move but did not object, she said. The Congress, which failed to come to power in Tamil Nadu after 1967, owes an explanation to the nation for the loss of the territory which former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi described as a tiny mass of rock, she said. Sitharaman claimed former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had described Katchatheevu as a "nuisance." "Let them set right the lies they have been saying for half a century," Sitharaman told reporters after an interaction at the Viksit Bharat Ambassador campus dialogue programme here. Ahead of the April 19 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu, the Katchatheevu issue has taken centre stage in the state, after Pr

Sri Lankan Cabinet has not discussed Katchatheevu issue, says spokesperson

Sri Lanka's Cabinet has not discussed the Katchatheevu issue so far as it was never raised, a government spokesman said here on Tuesday, after India's ruling BJP blamed the Congress Party for ceding the tiny island to Colombo in 1974. The Cabinet did not discuss it as it was never raised," Bandula Gunawardena, the Cabinet spokesman and minister of information told reporters here today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday cited a media report to assert that new facts reveal that the Congress Party callously gave away Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also slammed the Congress Party and ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) over the Katchchatheevu island issue. On Monday, Jaishankar claimed that prime ministers from the Congress displayed indifference about Katchatheevu island as if they did not care and gave away Indian fishermen's rights despite legal views to the contrary. Citing details of the agreements between India and Sri Lanka firs