A partnership between an Indian and a Russian firm has secured the management rights for the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Hambantota. The airport, once infamous as the “world’s emptiest airport” due to minimal flight activity, is now under the purview of Shaurya Aeronautics (Pvt) Ltd of India and Airports of Regions Management Company of […]

Colombo has demonstrated its own brand of strategic autonomy on issues from Russia’s war in Ukraine to China’s global footprint By Michael Kugelman Most South Asian governments tend to have nonaligned foreign policies, balancing their relations with major powers. This maximizes their diplomatic flexibility and ability to operate independently on the world stage, also known as […]

By Neville Ladduwahetty During President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s India visit in July 2023, five Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) were signed by India and Sri Lanka to establish physical connections between the two countries. This was followed more recently by the launch of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) – a mechanism that claims to reduce the cost […]

In a welcome development in relation to Sri Lanka’s regional policy, some state functionaries of the Ranil Wickremesinghe regime have gone on record as having stated that Sri Lanka would be taking notable cognizance of India’s security concerns, going forward. This is as it should be. None of India’s immediate neighbours could afford to overlook […]

Promises good economic and political relations with China A National People’s Power (NPP) administration will not do anything that will undermine Indian security; however, it will maintain economic and political relations with China, the NPP delegation to India told Indian officials, NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said on Thursday (15) night. In his first interview since […]

By Rathindra Kuruwita A National People’s Power (NPP) administration will not do anything that will undermine Indian security, but it will maintain economic and political relations with China, the NPP delegation to India told Indian officials, JVP/NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said in an interview with Sirasa TV, on Thursday (15). In his first interview […]

By EMERITUS PROFESSOR RANJITH SENARATNE, Chairman, National Science Foundation and former General President, Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science The global order in a state of flux Rapid economic and political changes in emerging economies and developing countries have an impact on the existing world order that is gradually moving from a Western-centred […]

Secretary to the Treasury and Finance Ministry Mahinda Siriwardana has said that even if Sri Lanka achieves the goal of zero corruption, tax revenue will still have to be increased to bridge the budget deficit and lessen the country’s debt burden. Referring to the Supreme Court ruling pertaining to economic management delivered on Nov 14, […]

[An article based on the Keynote Address delivered by Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, recently at the Annual Research Symposium 2023 of the University of Colombo] Introduction Inflation affects every aspect of our lives; it is a force that shapes our purchasing power, influences our financial decisions, and […]

By Shamindra Ferdinando One-time Foreign Secretary Kshenuka Senewiratne and Admiral Ravindra Chandrasiri Wijegunaratne (Rtd.) on Dec 04, 2023 assumed duties at the Sri Lankan High Commission in New Delhi and Islamabad, respectively. It would be pertinent to mention that Wijegunaratne previously served as the First Secretary/Defence Advisor of Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi […]

The abstention from voting recently by some foremost powers of the vital UN Security Council on a crucial resolution relating to the wellbeing of the people of the Gaza Strip, helped focus on the vexatious issues central to the Israel-Hamas war which are driving the world apart. The abstention from voting by the US, Russia […]

The convocation of the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies, Colombo, (BCIS) for 2023, held at the BMICH on November 10, provided many a thought-provoking ‘take-away’ for the International Relations (IR) student and analyst. The principal dignitaries at the momentous event did considerable justice to current developments in the IR field and thereby rendered the convocation […]