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President stresses need for concerted effort to revive economy

Published

5 years ago

2021/12/6

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said that everyone in the region should work together to revive the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

The President made these remarks delivering the Inaugural Address at the Indian Ocean Conference (IOC) held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Saturday (04).

President Rajapaksa said the measures adopted worldwide to combat the pandemic, although they proved invaluable in saving countless lives, came at a steep cost. “The rapid decline in economic activity these measures caused have had serious long-term consequences on global travel, trade, and economic growth.” The President pointed out that developing countries in particular have been very badly impacted by this and that this can only be achieved through the support provided by richer nations to developing countries.

The President said the COVID-19 pandemic will not end until everyone, everywhere is inoculated against the virus and requested the nations with capabilities to provide assistance to underprivileged nations to make their vaccination drives productive.

In contrast to the leadership provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the global pandemic response, no world institution has stepped forward to help countries navigate their economic recovery. Although the pandemic has affected rich and poor countries alike, a disproportionate impact is borne by poorer countries.

The President pointed out that the economies that are already burdened with external debt obligations are facing hardships and therefore, it would be greatly appreciated if more action could be taken by wealthy nations as well as multilateral organisations to forgive, restructure, or grant moratoria for the debt repayments of poorer countries struggling in the wake of the pandemic.

As the pandemic has shown, adverse situations in one country can quickly have ramifications on the wider region and eventually on the globe itself. That is why the countries across the region and the world at large must work together to solve problems that affect nations, whether in terms of epidemics, economy, or ecology. The President said the ongoing climate crisis is perhaps the most difficult challenge that humanity needs to overcome.

“The X-Press Pearl disaster was not an isolated incident. The fire on board the MT New Diamond was successfully doused through concerted efforts.” The President pointed out that both these incidents point towards the urgent need for stricter controls surrounding the oceanic transport of hazardous and environmentally sensitive materials.

Extra-territorial fishing by well-equipped trawlers is another significant problem in the region that affects the livelihoods of poor communities that rely on local fishing for their sustenance. The President said coordinated action to mitigate such issues will be critical in sustaining the overall ecology and the viability of local economies in the Indian Ocean region in the future and proposed the establishment of a regional mechanism to coordinate such issues relating to sustainability.

While stating that it must be admitted that the Indian Ocean region is also the location of considerable criminal activity, including human smuggling, drugs smuggling, and terrorism, President Rajapaksa said narcotics trafficking remains a significant problem for countries in this region and that this can only effectively be dismantled through coordinated efforts between the intelligence services, Coast Guards and Navies of regional countries.

The President pointed out similar coordination and cooperation will be required to contain human trafficking and said such coordination will also be required to counter the threat posed by religious extremism and terrorism in countries in the region. The President said extremist and terrorist ideology can spread with ease from nation to nation unless carefully monitored and suppressed.

The first Indian Ocean Conference commenced in 2016 with the objective of discussing issues of common interest and concerns to countries in the Indian Ocean region and other countries using the Indian Ocean. The Fourth Summit was held in the Maldives in 2019 and the theme was “Securing the Indian Ocean Region: Traditional and Non-Traditional Challenges”.

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Lanka enters new phase of prosecutions as hurdles clear

Published

8 hours ago

2026/10/4

Thilina Walpola

MONETABRIEF –The prosecution of high-profile individuals from the former Rajapaksa administrations is set to escalate this month with the clearing of legal hurdles and administrative bottlenecks, according to officials involved in the process.

Former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s attempt to secure an order preventing his arrest in connection with the Easter Sunday massacre was turned down by the Court of Appeal on Thursday.

An overseas travel ban has been in operation against Rajapaksa since June, but the Criminal Investigations Department made no move to question him. He instead filed a writ application seeking an order preventing his possible arrest.

President of the Court of Appeal Rohantha Abeysuriya noted that the court would not interfere with the investigative process. Any attempt by the court would amount to an obstruction of the investigation.

In an unrelated case, the same court rejected an application by opposition legislator Dilith Jayaweera seeking the quashing of a contempt charge filed against him by the Fort magistrate. The charges against Jayaweera and a few other opposition politicians are expected to be taken up in the coming week.

Jayaweera and other opposition politicians — Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila, Sugeeshwara Bandara, and Asanka Navaratne

— were hauled up over their remarks relating to the arrest of Suresh Sallay, the former head of the State Intelligence Service.

SLPP academic Mahinda Pathirana is also charged over his public comments about Sallay’s arrest in February under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son, legislator Namal Rajapaksa, is already in remand custody following his arrest in connection with three cases of bribery and money laundering relating to the 2013 Airbus deal and the Krrish property development in Colombo.

Although Namal has been granted bail in the Airbus money laundering charge, he is in custody until October 13 over the bribery charge relating to the same Airbus transaction. His arrest is under a provision of the Anti-Corruption Act that does not allow a magistrate to grant bail unless under exceptional circumstances.

Meanwhile, his mother Shiranthi Rajapaksa, who had been asked to report to the Financial Crimes Investigations Division on September 24, was a no-show and was yet to return from Singapore.

She had travelled overseas on September 16, and a family spokesman said she was handed the FCID summons at the departure lounge of Bandaranaike International Airport just before she boarded a flight to Singapore.

At the time, the family spokesman said she was due to return in three days.

“We will see greater momentum in the legacy cases in the coming weeks,” an official involved in the prosecutions said.

“We have cleared the legal hurdles to press ahead with more arrests,” he said.

“We are working on a few administrative issues which will be resolved very soon.”

The controversial prosecution of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe is dragging on without him being formally indicted since his arrest in August last year. The Fort magistrate has listed the case again for November 11, when the Attorney-General is expected to report on his decision regarding action against Wickremesinghe.

News

Police warn: Court evaders face property seizure

Published

8 hours ago

2026/10/4

Thilina Walpola

Police have reminded the public that courts have the power to take legal action against individuals who evade arrest or remain in hiding after warrants have been issued against them.

Police said that under Section 60 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act No. 15 of 1979, a court could issue a written proclamation requiring a person evading arrest under a warrant to appear at a specified place and time.

The proclamation must allow the person at least 30 days to appear before court, Police said.

If the person fails to appear even after the proclamation has been issued, the court may take further action under Section 61 of the Act.

This includes issuing an order for the attachment of the movable or immovable property belonging to the person concerned.Police issued the reminder highlighting the legal measures available against persons who deliberately evade arrest and remain in hiding after warrants have been issued.

News

Nearly 20 Iranian tankers stranded off Lanka amid US sanctions

Published

8 hours ago

2026/10/4

Thilina Walpola

Around 20 Iranian oil tankers are reportedly stranded about 15 nautical miles off Sri Lanka’s southwestern coast, with several vessels facing shortages of food, fuel and fresh water amid tightening US sanctions and maritime restrictions, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the report published on Thursday (1), US officials have in recent weeks urged Sri Lanka to prevent local vessels from supplying essential provisions to the tankers and their crews.

The report, citing Sri Lankan Government documents and companies involved in supplying the vessels, said the US had raised concerns over assistance being provided to the sanctioned tankers.

The situation follows the United States’ decision to reimpose a maritime blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in July, which has reportedly left dozens of Iranian and Iran-linked tankers involved in transporting sanctioned oil to China stranded near Asian countries, including Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

Most of the vessels are reportedly empty tankers that had previously transported Iranian crude to Asia, often through ship-to-ship transfers, before preparing to return to Iran for additional cargo.

The WSJ reported that the US Embassy had warned Sri Lanka in August that it was monitoring 19 Iranian tankers off the country’s western coast and had raised the possibility of secondary sanctions against companies providing services to sanctioned vessels.

Sri Lankan authorities have maintained that the vessels are located outside the country’s 12-nautical-mile territorial waters and that the Government is not providing them with logistical assistance.

Meanwhile, shipping companies told the WSJ that obtaining approval to supply essential items, including food, drinking water and fuel, as well as repair services, to the Iranian vessels had become increasingly difficult.

Separately, Reuters reported in late August that 27 sanctioned Iran-linked tankers were waiting off Sri Lanka without cargo.

The Trump administration has also imposed additional sanctions on Iran and warned countries and companies trading with Tehran of potential consequences, as Washington seeks to pressure Iran to make concessions amid the ongoing conflict.

Similar concentrations of Iranian-linked tankers have been reported off Malaysia, where waters have historically been used for ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian crude destined mainly for China.