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Russian Federation amongst first countries to assist Sri Lanka in establishing industrial base – Speaker
Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said in Parliament recently that the country should not forget that the Russian Federation was amongst the first countries to assist Sri Lanka in establishing its industrial base, and at that time the three industrial projects, Ceylon Steel Corporation, along with Ceylon Tyre Corporation and Ceylon Sugar Corporation, were established in Sri Lanka with the assistance of the Soviet Union, the predecessor of the Russian Federation
He was speaking at the revival meeting of the Russian-Sri Lankan Parliamentary Friendship Association for the ninth Parliament held recently in Parliament.
The meeting was held under the patronage of Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Sri Lanka Yury Materiy and Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake. It was attended by Ministers, State Ministers and Members of Parliament.
The Speaker said that ‘’The very first Sri Lanka – Russia Parliamentary Friendship Association was inaugurated on 9th October 1998, and the most Senior Parliamentarian, at the moment in the country Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and the then Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development was elected as the first President of this Association.’’
‘’Sri Lanka imports a large number of items from Russia. On the other hand, Russia is a very valuable importer of Sri Lanka products. Russia has become the single largest buyer of Ceylon tea for several years. Since 01st January 2010, Russian Generalized Scheme of Preferences – GSP scheme has been granting preferential tariffs to certain developing countries and Sri Lanka has been a beneficiary country of this scheme. Under the GSP of the Russian Federation, Sri Lanka enjoys 25 per cent tariff reduction from the current customs duty rate’’ The Speaker added.
At this meeting, State Minister of Education Reforms, Open Universities and Distance Learning Promotion Susil Premajayantha, was elected as the new Chairman of the Sri Lanka-Russia Parliamentary Friendship Organization.
Member of Parliament Sagara Kariyawasam, was elected as the new Secretary and MPs Mohamed Muzammil, Aravind Kumar and Dr. Upul Galappaththi were elected as the Vice Presidents.
In addition, MP Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera was elected as the Treasurer and MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala was elected as the Assistant Secretary.
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Concessionary priced food packages for new ‘Aswesuma’ applicants from 01st to 13th April
In keeping with the proposal by the President in his 2025 budget, for the provision of a package essential goods at a concessionary price during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year Festival season, it has been planned to provide a food package containing essential food items valued at Rs. 5000/- for only Rs. 2,500/-.
It is expected to select appropriate beneficiaries from among the 812,753 candidates who have submitted new applications for Aswesuma benefits.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal furnished by the Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development jointly with the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation to take necessary steps to provide the food package to the beneficiaries through the Lanka Sathosa outlet network and COOPFED outlets from 01.04.2025 to 13.04.2025
The Cabinet of Ministers have decided as follows considering the resolutions submitted by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Plan Implementation and Economic Development along with the Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Governments on payment of salaries according to the revised salary scales with effect from 01.04.2025 based on the resolution furnished by the President for revising the salaries of government service by the budget 2025;
• To empower the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Governments to issue circular instructions to the the secretaries of all the Ministries, Local Government Secretaries and Heads of Departments in regard to salary revisions of the government service.
• To empower the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Plan Implementation and Economic Development to issue circular instructions for state corporations, statutory boards and fully government owned companies and other institutions.
Approval of the Cabinet of Ministers has been granted to amend the Companies Act No. 07 of 2007 for remedying the shortcomings related to the transparency according to the international standards for prevention of money laundering, financing terrorism and other illegal activities.
Accordingly, the draft bill prepared by the Legal Draftsman has been revised as per instructions provided by the Attorney General subject to the special decision of the Supreme Court No. SC/SD/92/2024 and clearance of the Attorney General has been granted for the final draft bill prepared by the Legal Draftsman.
The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Safety and Cooperative Development to publish the aforementioned draft bill in the government gazette notification and subsequently submit to the Parliament for its concurrence.
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