The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS) recently hosted a special guest lecture on ‘15 Years of Dialogue: Sri Lanka–SCO Partnership and the Way Forward’ at the Lighthouse Auditorium of the Institute.

The lecture was delivered by Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Nurlan Yermekbayev, who outlined the evolution of Sri Lanka’s engagement with the SCO over the past 15 years and highlighted the growing importance of the organisation in regional and multilateral cooperation.

The discussion focused on the SCO’s history, institutional mechanisms and key pillars, including regional security cooperation, economic collaboration, socio-humanitarian engagement and external partnerships. Broader themes of connectivity and multilateral dialogue were also explored during the session.

The event was organised by the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism.

Members of the diplomatic corps, Heads of Mission, senior government officials, representatives of think tanks, academics, researchers and university students attended the event.

The Supreme Court last week ruled that a bank is entitled to institute legal action directly against a guarantor without first proceeding against the principal debtor, where such a right has been expressly waived in the guarantee agreement.

Delivering judgment on an appeal filed by a guarantor, the apex court affirmed a decision of the Commercial High Court holding Vithanage Happawana liable as guarantor for credit facilities obtained from DFCC Bank PLC.

The case stemmed from an action filed by the bank to recover over Rs. 5.5 million, together with interest, from the defendant in his capacity as guarantor for a company’s loan facilities.

The defendant had argued that the principal debtor company, as the beneficiary of the credit facilities, should have been made a party to the action and pursued first before any proceedings were initiated against him.

However, the Supreme Court held that while Roman-Dutch law generally allows a surety to insist that the principal debtor be sued first, such a right may be expressly waived by contract.

Justice Sampath Wijeratne, delivering the judgment, observed that Clause 15 of the guarantee agreement clearly permitted the bank to proceed directly against the guarantor without first taking action against the principal debtor.

The Court also rejected the defendant’s claim that he was unaware of the contents of the guarantee documents and had signed blank papers, stating that such a defence cannot succeed unless the signer was illiterate, blind, or otherwise incapable of understanding the nature of the transaction.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court affirmed the Commercial High Court ruling and ordered costs to be paid to the plaintiff bank in both courts.

The three-judge bench comprised Justices Yasantha Kodagoda, Shiran Gooneratne and Sampath Wijeratne.

President’s Counsel Kushan de Alwis appeared for the bank, while Counsel Harith de Mel with Hasini Rupasinghe, instructed by Chamithri Kaluhennadige, represented the appellant.

Defence Secretary, retired Air Vice Marshal Sampath Thuyacontha, currently on an official visit to the Russian Federation, held talks in Moscow on Wednesday with Aleksander Nikolayevich Venediktov, Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and State Advisor.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 1st International Forum on Security and the Annual Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues, being held in Moscow from May 26 to 29.

During the cordial discussions, the two sides exchanged views on a range of bilateral matters of mutual interest, with particular emphasis on cooperation between the armed forces of Sri Lanka and the Russian Federation.

Talks focused on strengthening longstanding defence ties and exploring new areas of collaboration in defence, security, and military-technical cooperation.

The Defence Secretary and Venediktov also discussed opportunities for Sri Lanka to benefit from advanced military technology cooperation and related initiatives aimed at enhancing mutual engagement between the two countries.