The Governments of Sri Lanka and Australia in the interest of both countries have pledged to cooperate on curtailing illegal migration and human trafficking. The two countries have agreed to keep a vigil on the people smuggling activities during bilateral discussions held Thursday between the Australian Minister of Immigration and Citizenship Chris Bowen, who was ...

Reuters: Nepal’s prime minister worked on Friday to form a coalition government that will include the main opposition parties after his cabinet quit as part of a negotiated effort to quell political tumult in the desperately poor Himalayan state. Nepal, wedged between its giant neighbours China and India, has been plagued by instability for years ...

Sri Lanka spent Rs. 56 b on above-the-line advertising in 2011 Taking wing to India for meetings is a usual routine for any business leader attached to a multinational in Sri Lanka as most such organisations have their regional offices in India. During a recent visit to India, the hype surrounding IPL – 5th edition ...

CB asks banks overnight for their forex commitments for Thursday and Friday; steps up bank visits Convenes meeting with treasury heads of banks; rupee crisis figures in monthly CB-bank CEOs meeting as well Dealers say no room for speculation given the very narrow net open positions; new rules apart from lack of dollars could be ...

Sri Lanka’s economic sectors, agriculture, industries and services are performing well and we are today able to provide a robust new investment destination as a frontier country to the rest of the world. In that background, many investors realise that Sri Lanka is well poised to offer a safe and sound investment opportunity to its ...

Less than a year after starting up on its own, the company prepares to replicate its Indian success in Sri LankaJubilant FoodWorks, the master franchisee of Dominos Pizza for South Asia, last year set up its own subsidiary company in Sri Lanka, moving away from the franchisee partnership which held the fort for the Group ...

Reuters: Sri Lanka’s tea production fell 22.6 per cent year-on-year in March, the state-run tea board said on Tuesday, with industry experts attributing the drop to adverse weather. Sri Lanka’s March tea output was 27.21 million kg compared to 35.13 million kg in March 2011. Production in the first quarter dropped 6.7 per cent to ...

Sri Lanka should start thinking of real improvements rather than marketing magic, says Simon AnholtQ: Thank you for making time to discuss ‘Brand Sri Lanka’. In your view, on the principles of nation branding, what are the key issues that Sri Lanka must address? A: First of all, I have to stress that ‘nation branding’ ...

At the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Annual Conference in Kuala Lumpur last week, PATA CEO Martin J. Craigs committed the association to a four-year phase of ‘Next Generation’ action to underpin the 61-year old travel body’s relevance in the digital age. The CEO said aligned advocacy, mobile technology, business building events, and crisis management ...

Prospects for the global economy are slowly improving again, but growth is expected to be weak, especially in Europe, and unemployment in many advanced economies will stay high, according to the IMF’s latest forecast. Although action by policymakers in Europe and elsewhere has helped to reduce vulnerabilities, risks of a renewed upsurge of the crisis ...

MALE (Reuters): The Maldives yesterday chose July 2013 for a presidential election, spurning calls for early polls and risking more protests by supporters of former president Mohamed Nasheed, overthrown in what he calls a coup on the tropical atoll nation. Current President Mohamed Waheed Hussain Manik, who served as vice president under Nasheed, says his ...

British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka John Rankin concluded a two-day official visit to the Hill Country. The British High Commissioner used the opportunity to visit the Court Lodge Tea factory in Kandapola, run by UK-owned Finlays, and visited some of the houses of the estate workers. Commenting at the end of visit Rankin said, ...

The Central Bank, in its latest Annual Report, has downgraded its growth forecast for 2012 from eight per cent to 7.2 per cent. This is due to a combination of adverse global developments and the negative effects of domestic policy misalignments. The contractionary measures introduced to address the imbalance in the trade account (i.e. to ...

By Uditha Jayasinghe The Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday emphasised that favourable and consistent policies leading to higher private sector investments were critical for Sri Lanka to achieve higher growth. In its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) for 2012 released in Colombo yesterday, the ADB said that despite the improved political and economic environment, growth in ...

PORT LOUIS,(Reuters): The number of tourists visiting Mauritius fell 0.2 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter, as arrivals declined from France, one of the Indian Ocean island’s most important markets. Statistics Mauritius said on Tuesday arrivals for the first three months of 2012 fell to 261,995 from 262,626 in the period a year ago, ...

Palestine President Mahmud Abbas and President Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed on the need to further strengthening good relations between the two countries at bilateral talks between them held at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo yesterday. The two leaders emphasised attention on the need for the further develop relations between political, economic and cultural spheres for the ...

Last Sunday when the unknown Ajinkya Rahane scored 103 runs off just 60 balls at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, which helped the Rajasthan Royals to score a massive 195 runs at IPL season five, my mind went to just one ethos the IPL is all about – highlighting performance. It is how IPL ...

Hundreds of millions of people, businesses and governments around the world unite each year to support the largest environmental event in history – Earth Hour.  For 42 years Earth Hour has been uniting people to protect the planet but it seems that Mother Earth has never been faced with a crisis as severe as it ...

Malaysia will be hosting the 2012 PATA Annual Conference from 19 to 22 April 2012, making it the fourth time in forty years that the nation was doing so. Organised by PATA, Pacific Asia Travel Association, at The Royale Chulan Kuala Lumpur, the conference will be themed “Building the Business Beyond Profits” where some of ...

Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa yesterday said that Mahinda Rajapaksa Government has achieved highest economic growth in Sri Lanka’s post independence history and has brought stability to the economy within a short period of time of after the defeating of terrorism. This statement Minister Rajapaksa made at the Economic Planning Review meeting held at the ...

Central bank Governor says country is targeting per capita income of $4,000 by 2015Ajit Nivard Cabraal is a man intimately associated with the economic development of Sri Lanka. Well before he became the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, in 2006, Cabraal was the chief economic adviser to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was ...

The challenges Sri Lanka has to face in its march towards development are manifold. Although the war has ended the wrong political ideologies, the proposals and timetables it created are still in operation. By Government Information Department Additional Director General Chandrapala Liyanage Similarly, various social activity groups and individuals and organisations operating under the advice ...

Parliamentary accountability The Parliament, as the country’s foremost representative institution, has the sole authority over national resources and financial allocations and concurrently has a prominent role to play in fiscal responsibility, the budgetary process, economic development and effective transparent economic and financial management, with a view to assuring sustainable growth an...

Let’s accept it, Sri Lanka made a statement to the world that we are open for business with Expo 2012, even though it had its limitations like the faulty air conditioner at the launch that grabbed media attention. Whilst some can say that the shine was taken off the event due to the very uncomfortable ...

The Secretary of Defence and Urban Development Gotabaya Rajapaksa was invited as a Guest of the Government of Japan in order to interact with the key political leaders, senior technocrats and cabinet ministers. Secretary Rajapaksa, on the day before he left to Colombo, met Minister of Education, Culture, Sports , Science and Technology Hirofumi Hirano; ...

By Cheranka Mendis While Sri Lanka’s largest mega trade, investment and tourism promotion initiative ‘Expo 2012’ has been welcomed by stakeholders as a timely affair, stallholders shared mixed feelings on the order of the show. Some were elated having received inquires just two days into the event, while others expressed disappointment with regard to the ...

By Cassandra Mascarenhas Sri Lanka is ripe for investment and should exploit its strategic location to attract more foreign investment, while not losing focus on its traditional markets were the general views expressed at the Expo 2012 Symposium on Trade, Investment and Tourism. Held yesterday, the symposium featured a line-up of representatives of many sectors, ...

With the recent relaxing of the rupee exchange rate and subsequent increase in fuel prices, trade unions and the opposition parties are conducting protest campaigns against the Government, demanding a reduction in oil prices and the cost of living. This article investigates the living conditions of citizens in the recent past and present, quality and ...

I am of the view that there is strong potential in using the knowledge and the caring among our youth in protecting our natural assets. It is sad that the vast reservoir of knowledge and information our young nature enthusiasts possess is not adequately harnessed for conservation decision making. Herein is an appeal to policymakers ...