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UN Ambassador on Climate Change praises Lanka for initiatives already taken

Published

5 years ago

2021/08/9

By Ifham Nizam

Sri Lanka is the best in South Asia as regards efforts being made to mitigate the effects of the climate emergency, Ken O’Flaherty, says Ambassador for Asia-Pacific and the South Asia Region at the United Nations Office for Climate Change (COP26).

Ambassador O’Flaherty said so when he met Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, Minister Environment, and Ministry Secretary Dr. Anil Jasinghe last Friday. He was accompanied by Andrew Price, Head of the Prosperity Unit, British High Commission in Colombo.

The Ambassador invited the Minister of Environment and the Ministry Secretary to represent Sri Lanka at the International Conference on COP 26 Climate Change to be held in Belgrade in November this year.

The Ambassador also briefed the Minister on the manner in which the Sri Lankan government had implemented the decisions taken by the United Nations Conference on Climate Change to Prevent the Impact of Climate Change.

The Minister said that a number of policy decisions had been taken so far to tackle a number of issues that could contribute to climate change, in line with the Prosperity Vision Policy Statement presented by the current President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Amaraweera said that President Rajapaksa had decided against the construction of new coal-fired power plants and that 70 percent of Sri Lanka’s electricity needs would be met from renewable energy from 2030. It would also increase the use of hydro power as well as solar and wind power to generate electricity.

“We will build two LNG power plants and encourage the import of electric cars, and increase the country’s forest cover to 30 percent by 2030”, Minister Amaraweera told the visitors.

The Minister also said one of the objectives of the government was to improve the national transport services which are responsible for increasing air pollution.He also pointed out that the importation, manufacture, distribution and sale of a number of polythene and plastic-based products that caused environmental pollution had been banned in the country.

Amaraweera said that all those decisions had been taken on the instructions of President Rajapaksa to protect the environment.

Sri Lanka is also an island and could face more adverse conditions due to the adverse global impact, the Ambassador said.

However, he emphasised that Sri Lanka was ahead of other countries in the South Asian region in complying with international recommendations on climate change mitigation.

Ambassador O’Flaherty congratulated the government on such successes.

Several officials of the Ministry were also present on the occasion.

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Cabinet aporives recruitment of Nursing Instructors for Nursing Schools under the Ministry of Health and Mass Media on Contract Basis

Published

6 hours ago

2026/09/1

Priyan

There are 17 nursing schools under the Ministry of Health and Mass Media including the postgraduate primary nursing school.

There are 142 vacancies in the posts of Grade I / Special Grade Nursing Officer (Education) as on 31.03.2026 in those schools while 24 officers are to be promoted to the special grade on 31.12.2025 owing to the vacancies existing in the post of Special
Grade Nursing Officer (Education). Therefore, the number of vacancies is to be 166.

In addition, there are 24 vacancies in the post of Special Grade Nursing Officer (Education).

Although at present action has been taken to upgrade the nursing schools to nursing colleges and upgrade the nursing diploma course to nursing degree course, no action has been taken so far to carry out recruitment for the training relevant to the appointment for the post of Grade I / Special Grade Nursing Officer (Education).

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Health and Mass Media to recruit retired nursing instructors and nursing instructors who served in the nursing schools belonging to the three armed forces and are retired or have resigned legitimately from service to the post of Grade I / Special Grade Nursing Officer (Education) on contract basis.

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Signing agreement for the establishment of BIMSTEC Technology Transfer Facility in Sri Lanka

Published

7 hours ago

2026/09/1

Priyan

It has been decided to establish a BIMSTEC technology transfer facility in Sri Lanka by entering into a Host Country Agreement at the second leaders’ summit of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal
Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) held in New Delhi, India, in 2008, with the objective of enhancing regional cooperation.

The relevant cooperation agreement was signed by the member countries at the 5th BIMSTEC summit on 30-03-2022 in Colombo.
The prime objective of this technology transfer facility is to provide technology, capacity building, and management of intellectual property for the micro, small, and medium-scale
enterprises of the BIMSTEC member countries.

According to the cooperation agreement, an agreement should be entered into between Sri Lanka, as the host country, and BIMSTEC Secretariat for formalizing the legal status, privileges, and immunities of the technology transfer facility.

The drafted agreement has received the relevant institutional approval and legal clearance.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Science and Technology to sign the proposed agreement.

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The cabinet approves agreement on mutual legal cooperation in criminal matters between the Republic of Sri Lanka and the Republic of Korea

Published

7 hours ago

2026/09/1

Priyan

Approval has been granted at the cabinet meeting held on 11-12-2023 to sign an agreement between the Republic of Korea and the Government of Sri Lanka regarding mutual cooperation
in criminal matters.

However, according to the aforementioned approval, the relevant agreement could not be signed between both parties.

Through this agreement, opportunities will be provided
for mutual assistance to other countries in handing over judicial documents and collecting evidence for the use of criminal case matters.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution provided by the Minister of Justice and National Integration to sign an agreement between the Republic of Korea and the Government of Sri Lanka to cooperate in criminal matters.