Tag: Sri Lanka

Daily news – February 8, 2022

News from: Al Jazeera, Astana Times, Atlantic Council, Brookings, Bruegel, Chatham House, CSIS, Defense News, Defense One, East Asia Forum, Foundation for Defense of...

Sri Lanka’s dilemma: Pay off debt or pay for milk, meds and gas (Rehana Thowfeek, Al Jazeera)

A lone bullock cart carrying a barrel of Kerosene, a symbol of life in Sri Lanka in the 1970s, is once again a common...

Sri Lanka leader vows to fix ‘misconceptions’ over rights record (Al Jazeera)

Sri Lanka’s president has promised to change “misconceptions” of his country’s human rights record, following years of international criticism over wartime atrocities and extrajudicial killings. Government troops...

The Rajapaksas to blame for Sri Lanka’s disastrous 2021 (Neil DeVotta, East Asia Forum)

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s 2019 election manifesto promised ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’. Professionals for a Better Future (Viyathmaga) were to implement his programs, which...

Sri Lanka unveils $1BN relief plan as soaring food prices bite (Asantha Sirimanne, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera)

Sri Lanka will increase pay and pension for government employees, remove some taxes on food and medicine, and provide cash for its poorest citizens...

The tangled diplomacy of Sri Lanka’s currency crisis (Dushni Weerakoon, East Asia Forum)

Sri Lanka ends 2021 with foreign currency reserves in hand (US$1.6 billion) to support a month of imports. For much of the year, a...

Colombo Port City project: Controversial since its inception (Vinitha Revi, ORF)

At first envisioned during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidency (2005-15), the Colombo Port City (CPC) project was announced on Xi Jinping’s visit to Sri Lanka in...

Balances and benefits in Southern South Asia: The Maldives and Sri Lanka in 2021 (Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy, ORF)

The increasing competition between India and China and the Indo-Pacific’s rising prominence has reinvigorated the world’s interest in the Indian Ocean and its island...

Sri Lanka shuts three foreign missions as dollar crisis worsens (Al Jazeera)

Sri Lanka has announced the closure of three overseas diplomatic missions in a bid to save foreign currency reserves, as the country’s Central Bank slaps...

Sri Lanka: ‘Internationalising’ fisheries issue with India will have consequences (Sathiya Moorthy, ORF)

Reports that Sri Lanka’s Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda has taken up the long-standing fishers’ issue involving neighbouring India with US Ambassador Martin K. Kelly in Colombo...

Short-sightedness in Colombo (Harsh V. Pant, ORF)

During Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s visit to India earlier this month, the two nations have seemingly agreed to work out a cooperation...

Chinese marine engineering giant gets new project in Port of Colombo (Global Times)

China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) said on its WeChat public account on Tuesday that it has won a bid to build the east terminal...

Deradicalisation regulations stoke more radicalisation in Sri Lanka (Ambika Satkunanathan, East Asia Forum)

On 12 March 2021, new ‘Deradicalisation from Holding Violent Extremist Religious Ideology‘ regulations were issued under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in Sri...

India’s answer to China’s ports in Sri Lanka (Chulanee Attanayake, The Interpreter)

On 30 September, Adani Group, India’s largest private port operator, signed what has been reported as a US$700 million agreement to build a new container terminal...

Sri Lanka’s rising food prices belies deeper economic issues (Dushni Weerakoon, East Asia Forum)

Sri Lanka recently passed emergency regulations to deal with food shortages and price increases. Such powers are typically invoked to address public security concerns. But in...

Fresh Impetus to India-Sri Lanka Ties (Rup Narayan Das, VIF)

In a very significant development which will give an impetus to India-Sri Lanka relations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is inaugurating the direct flight from...