Category: Featured Headlines

Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana has discussed furthering cooperation between Sri Lanka and China while on a visit there this week.

“Discussions focused on enhancing cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, particularly in advancing key projects like the Colombo Port City and Hambanthota Port,” a Parliament statement said.

Sri Lanka is a key partner in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), known in China as the One Belt One Road (OBOR) and sometimes referred to as the New Silk Road, a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in more than 150 countries and international organizations.

The BRI is composed of six urban development land corridors linked by road, rail, energy, and digital infrastructure and the Maritime Silk Road linked by the development of ports.

Abeywardana was in China to attend the 8th China-South Asia Exposition held in Kunming, Yunnan Province.

The trade fair was instrumental in fostering substantial economic and trade exchanges since its inception in 2013, he said. “This exposition has notably strengthened cooperation between China and South Asian countries, bringing considerable benefits to the people of Sri Lanka.”

Addressing the opening ceremony, Abeywardana thanked the Ministry of Commerce of China and the People’s Government of Yunnan Province for their longstanding friendship.

The Speaker also addressed the 5th China-South Asia Cooperation Forum on July 24, held on the theme, “Build Consensus for Regional Development.”.

Abeywardana was said to have emphasized “the necessity of collective solutions to global development challenges,” and called for addressing these issues through mutual cooperation.

Abeywardana and other officials in the delegation met Secretary of the CPC Yunnan Provincial Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of Yunnan People’s Congress Wang Ning, and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress Ding Zhongli.

Sri Lanka and China have maintained 67 years of diplomatic relations in recent history, spanning trade, investment, cultural exchanges, and infrastructure development.

There was a mild hiccup in diplomatic relations between both countries after Sri Lanka banned Chinese research vessels calling at the island nation for research purposes for one year, after strong protest by India, which had cited security threats.

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna should have the premiership candidacy if it is to support an outsider as the presidential candidate, said the party’s national organizer Namal Rajapaksa.

He was speaking to the media following a meeting at the official residence of party leader Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The MP said they discussed election related matters except the party’s candidate.

“The politburo will take it up and select an appropriate candidate once the election is gazetted,” he added.

Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe officially announced his candidacy for the upcoming Presidential Election.

He made this announcement during a special press conference held today (25).

Former Army Commander, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka formally announced, Thursday, that he will be contesting at the upcoming Presidential election.

In a post on X, Fonseka invited every Sri Lankan to support him to take the country forward.

The announcement comes amidst speculation that Fonseka will support incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Fonseka had, however, insisted he will not support Wickremesinghe as the President was working with the Rajapaksas.

“I wish to announce my Presidential Candidacy to the people of Sri Lanka. For 76 years, we have been led by an inept political group that has led us to bankruptcy. For Sri Lanka to grow, we need to #CrushCorruption. We need to leverage our natural resources to boost income generation. This is my formal and official announcement as the presidential candidate of Sri Lanka for the 2024 Presidential Election. I invite every Sri Lankan to join me to take Sri Lanka forward,” Fonseka said on X.

The Chairman of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) was expected to make his formal announcement early next month at a media event but instead took to social media to declare that he will be contesting the 2024 elections.

The Public Financial Management Bill and the Economic Transformation Bill have been passed in Parliament today (25) with amendments and without a vote.

Amendments were incorporated to the bills during the committee stage and subsequently, the third reading was passed without a vote.

These two bills were presented to Parliament on 22 May 2024.

The government says the two significant bills are aimed at bolstering the country’s economy.

The “Economic Transformation Bill” and the “Public Financial Management Bill,” are designed to enhance the management of public finances, thereby safeguarding against future economic downturns, the State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe said recently.

Explaining the bills, he said the “Economic Transformation Law,” is aimed at preventing future economic collapses and that the legislation stems from the vision of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, rather than being proposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The recent stabilization of the economy following previous downturns underscores the importance of preserving this stability going forward, he said, adding that it is necessary to maintain optimal levels of public financial management to avert future economic crises.

The “Public Finance Management Bill” is set to be presented with a focus on enhancing accountability in managing public finances. This legislative initiative aligns with recommendations from a collaborative program with the IMF and holds significant importance for the country’s future financial management, the state minister said.

He said these drafts contain numerous technical intricacies aimed at bolstering confidence in the economy and maintaining the trajectory of the new economic direction implemented thus far.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court recently determined that several clauses of the Economic Transformation Bill are inconsistent with the country’s Constitution.

Consequently, these clauses require a special majority in parliament and, in some cases, approval by a referendum to be passed. However, if the contentious clauses are amended, they can be passed with a simple majority, the court said in its determination.

The President Media Division (PMD), the official portal to announce the President’s decisions, activities and news updates would violate the election law and abuse state resources if the former announces President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s public campaigns in the run-up to the poll, the Election Commission and polls monitoring bodies said.

People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) today said that they have received a complaint against the President’s Media Division (PMD) for announcing to the media and requesting coverage about an upcoming public rally of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, which is to be held in Galle on Saturday (27).

The PMD through its network of designated WhatsApp alert groups to notify the local media about the news and activities of the President had requested coverage today to a public gathering to be held in Galle Municipal Grounds on Saturday, July 27 at 3.00pm under the theme ‘Ekwa Jayagamu – Api Galle’ (Let’s win together – We are Galle).

A communiqué sent by the PMD this afternoon had informed the media groups to be present at the said venue by 2.00pm on Saturday and had asked to provide the names and NIC numbers of the journalists, media teams before 6.00pm today.

Executive Director PAFFREL Rohana Hettiarachchi told the Daily Mirror that they have received a complaint about this event against the PMD requesting media coverage to the said public rally is an offence pertaining to the abuse of state resources.

“PMD is a state mechanism to inform the local and foreign media in Sri Lanka about the daily official updates and news of the President and it cannot give publicity or request coverage to any election campaign by the President as a candidate or his party as a contesting party in the run-up to an election.

This seems to be the second of a series of public rallies, which are to be held in the near future, whilst the first was held in Gampaha last Sunday under the theme ‘Ekwa Jayagamu – Api Gampaha People’s Rally’. We will further monitor this incident and have taken action to report the complaint to the Election Commission,” Hettiarachchi said.

When contacted, Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake told the Daily Mirror that the media units or divisions affiliated to the state bodies, President, Prime Minister or Ministers should not use their resources to give or request private publicity to their superiors during an election, which is an offence.

“Misappropriation or private use of public property has been established as a criminal offence under the offense against the Public Property Act, No.12 of 1982. We will look into this complaint and take relevant action,” Ratnayake said.