Page 5 - Sri Lanka

Debt restructuring talks with India, China successful, says Sri Lanka prez

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday informed the parliament that talks with India and China on debt restructuring are successful

Sri Lanka, US to conduct joint exercises to maintain free Indo-Pacific

Sri Lanka and the US will conduct a week-long joint military exercises starting Thursday to prepare for disaster relief and maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific

India writes to IMF backing Sri Lanka's debt restructuring plan: Report

Sri Lanka owes India around $1 billion that will come under the debt restructuring plan

LIVE: India to include concerns of Global South in G20, says LS Speaker

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Ahead of Jaishankar's visit, Sri Lanka Prez assures to fully implement 13A

Ahead of visit by India's EAM S. Jaishankar to Sri Lanka this week, President Ranil Wickremesinghe has assured to fully implement the India-brokered 13th Amendment to the Constitution

Like India said, 13A should be implemented: Sri Lanka president

13th Amendment is for devolution of power to the Tamil community

LIVE updates: 'Precious lives lost,' says PM Modi on Nepal plane crash

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Indian naval ship INS Delhi arrives in Sri Lanka's port city of Trincomalee

The Sri Lankan Navy welcomed the Indian naval ship INS Delhi, which arrived in the north-eastern port city of Trincomalee on Sunday, with 390 crew members on board on a two-day official visit. The INS Delhi is 163.2 metre-long, and is the lead ship of her class of guided-missile destroyers of the Indian Navy. It comes days ahead of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar's visit to the island nation, scheduled between January 19 to 20. During the ship's two-day stay, the crew will participate in numerous programmes organised by the Sri Lanka Navy, with a view to promoting cooperation and goodwill between the navies of both the countries. Such naval exercises enable both countries to overcome common maritime challenges, through enhanced cooperation.

EAM likely to visit Lanka on Jan 19; talks on debt restructuring expected

Sri Lanka will hold debt restructuring talks with India when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is expected to visit Colombo this week, President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said, as the cash-strapped country looks to carve a path out of its worst financial crisis. The crisis-hit island nation, which is trying to secure a much-needed USD 2.9 billion bridge loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has been trying to get financial assurances from its major creditors China, Japan and India which is the requisite for Colombo to get the bailout package. The IMF bailout has been put on a halt as Sri Lanka pursues talks with creditors to meet the global lender's condition for the facility. Addressing trade unionists here on Saturday, President Wickremesinghe said his government has concluded debt restructuring talks with Japan and will hold such meetings with India this month. Wickremesinghe, who also holds the finance ministry portfolio, said that the debt restructuring talks

Only option is to seek IMF support: SL President on economic collapse

'The only option we have now is to seek the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Otherwise, we cannot recover'

Sri Lanka concludes debt restructuring talks with Japan: Wickremesinghe

Sri Lanka has concluded debt restructuring talks with Japan and will continue to hold such meetings with India this month, President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced on Saturday, as the cash-strapped country looks to carve a path out of its worst financial crisis. The crisis-hit island nation, which is trying to secure a USD 2.9 billion bridge loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has been trying to get financial assurances from its major creditors China, Japan and India which is the requisite for Colombo to get the bailout package. The IMF bailout has been put on a halt as Sri Lanka pursues talks with creditors to meet the global lender's condition for the facility. Addressing trade unionists here, the president said that the debt restructuring talks with China's Exim bank were held this week and further dialogue is in progress. On January 19, the Indian foreign minister is expected to visit and we will continue to have debt restructuring talks with India, Wickremesingh

Indians travelling to Sri Lanka advised to comply with new Covid protocols

All Indian nationals travelling to Sri Lanka have been advised to follow the country's revised Covid-19 protocols, the Indian High Commission here said on Saturday. According to Sri Lanka's new Covid-19 guidelines, all tourists travelling to the island nation are required to carry vaccination cards and unvaccinated travellers are required to carry a negative PCR report, obtained 72 hours prior to arrival in the country. Earlier, on December 7, 2022 Sri Lanka had discontinued the mandatory requirement of producing the COVID-19 vaccination certificate for international travellers. The regulation to produce a pre-boarding or on-arrival negative COVID-19 test (PCR/Rapid Antigen Test) (RAT) was also removed. The revised Covid-19 guidelines have come into effect from Friday. Indian nationals visiting Sri Lanka are requested to comply with the latest Covid 19 guidelines, an Indian High Commission statement said. Sri Lanka has said it will keep a close watch on any new Covid-19 related .

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka plans to downsize military by half by 2030

President Ranil Wickremesinghe said last year that military strategy reforms were needed to gear the island's army to face new challenges

July 9 uprising unified Sri Lanka across races: Booker Prize winner

It was a movement, especially July 9, 2022 where the whole country unified across races, generations, political views: Shehan Karunatilaka

Sri Lankan central bank urges India, China to reduce debts at the earliest

Sri Lanka, which is currently amidst the worst-ever economic crisis since its independence in 1948, defaulted on its debt repayments and negotiated a $2.9 billion bailout

Sri Lanka to implement cost-reflective tariff formula for electricity

Amid the ongoing economic crisis, Sri Lanka's cabinet of ministers has approved the implementation of a cost-reflective electricity tariff formula

India provides 75 buses to Sri Lanka to support public transport system

India has handed 75 passenger buses to Sri Lanka as part of its assistance towards strengthening public transport infrastructure in the cash-strapped country. As part of its 'Neighbourhood First' policy, India has extended multi-pronged assistance to Sri Lanka to help the country tide over its worst economic and humanitarian crisis since its independence from Great Britain in 1948. Supporting mobility and accessibility in Sri Lanka, High Commissioner handed over 75 buses for use by Transport Board. 500 buses are being supplied to Sri Lanka through Indian assistance towards strengthening public transport infrastructure, the Indian High Commission here said in a statement. In a similar move, India handed 125 SUVs to the Sri Lanka Police under a line of credit in December to support the island nation and help it address the serious mobility restriction issues faced by the police, due to the non-availability of vehicles. The Sri Lankan government in May last year declared a debt defaul

India's response to debt restructuring request expected by Jan end: SL

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that India's response to cash-strapped Sri Lanka's request for debt restructuring is expected by the end of this month. Sri Lanka, which is trying to secure a USD 2.9 billion bridge loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has been trying to to get financial assurances from its major creditors -- China, Japan and India -- which is the requisite for Colombo to get the bailout package. Talking to the media, Wickremesinghe on Friday also said that he is hopeful of obtaining the USD 2.9 billion IMF facility in the first quarter of this year. Sri Lanka had begun debt restructuring talks with its creditors since September last year as warranted by its agreement with the IMF for the USD 2.9 billion facility over four years. The cash-strapped country began negotiating with the IMF for a bail-out after having announced its first-ever sovereign debt default in April last year. Wickremesinghe had earlier said that India and Sri Lanka held ...

Sri Lankan economy to recover in second half of 2023: Central bank

The central bank said that structural economic impediments that existed across various spheres of the economy over decades were compounded by economic shocks, along with ill-timed policy choices

Samson ruled out on advice of medical team, Jitesh is his replacement: BCCI

The BCCI on Thursday said it has called up Vidarbha wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma after Sanju Samson was ruled out of the remainder of the T20I series against Sri Lanka on the advice of the board's medical team. Samson hurt his left knee while attempting to field a ball near the boundary ropes during the first T20I at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday. "He was taken for scans and a specialist opinion this afternoon in Mumbai by the BCCI medical team and has been advised rest and rehabilitation," the apex cricket body said in a statement. "The all-India senior selection committee has named Jitesh Sharma as replacement for Sanju Samson." Sharma was picked on the basis of his impressive performances for Punjab Kings in the IPL. India play the second T20I against Sri Lanka in Pune on Thursday. The hosts lead the three-match series 1-0 following their narrow two-run win in the opener. India's updated squad for Sri Lanka T20Is: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), R