News

‘Youth need to know sacrifices of forebears’

Published

2 years ago

2021/03/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

Premier Rajapaksa greeting his Bangladeshi counterpart

PM in Bangladesh

In the 21st Century, with the great aspirations for Asian prosperity, the new generations needed to be aware of the countless sacrifices made by their fore-fathers to achieve freedom, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday at an event celebrating the Birth Centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Golden Jubilee of the Independence of Bangladesh.

“As a neighbour and a close friend, Sri Lanka stands side by side with Bangladesh to achieve greater freedom and prosperity. Our objectives of economic transformation, eradication of poverty and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals remain key priorities in the middle of great challenges. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Father of Bangladesh, said “Bangladesh is fertile and endowed with plenty. Few countries in the world have the kind of fertile land that we have.” The geographical locations of our two countries provide ample opportunities for us to enhance closer maritime, shipping, trade and people-to-people contacts,” he said

Premier Rajapaksa said that Bangladesh is considered an emerging economic power houses in South Asia and is an important trading and investment partner for Sri Lanka.

“The great strides Bangladesh has made in the field of agriculture attracts great attention in Sri Lanka. In addition to playing an active role through the SAARC Agriculture Centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh continues to provide training and capacity building for our institutions. I seek your indulgence to share closer cooperation in this field. The inspiring journey that the people of Bangladesh had undertaken from poverty and natural disasters in the past half century is a testament to a prosperous nation in the making. It is in this backdrop, I take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt compliments and sincere and warm wishes to you, Madam Prime Minister, your Government, and the people of Bangladesh,” he said.

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News

Stay on course and don’t go back to the past – Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy

Published

4 hours ago

2023/03/24

Priyan

Former Governor of the Central Bank delivering the keynote address at a high profile Webinar hosted by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka today (24) said that Sri Lanka must implement the structural reforms proposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) without relaxing like in the past or else we will be in a deeper economic mess.

The webinar was titled ‘What is next for Sri Lanka in the wake of the IMF programme’

News

Sustainable economic development goals cannot be achieved unless attention is paid to mitigating climate change – Sagala Ratnayake

Published

5 hours ago

2023/03/24

Priyan

President’s Senior Adviser on National Security and Chief of Presidential Staff Sagala Ratnayake said sustainable economic development goals cannot be accomplished without taking steps to mitigate climate change.

He said this while participating in the 10,000 sapling planting program organized by the LEO Youth Vision 2048 Club and the LEO Club at the Royal College, Colombo on Thursday (23rd).

This program was organized in view of President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s birthday, which is today (24), and the required plants were distributed to the main schools of the Colombo District.

News

SF claims thousands of police and military personnel leaving

Published

17 hours ago

2023/03/24

Thilina Walpola

By Saman Indrajith

Thousands of police and military personnel had left the services recently as they did not want to carry out illegal orders, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka told Parliament yesterday. According to the war-winning army commander 200 policemen have resigned during the past two months and 25,000 soldiers have left the army during the last two years.

“We urged the law enforcement and military officials not to follow illegal orders. We will reinstate them with back pay,” he said.

Fonseka also urged the President and the government MPs not to take people for fools.

“Sri Lanka owes 55 billion dollars to the world. Ranil’s plan is to borrow another seven billion during the next four years. So, in four years we will owe 62 billion to the world.

Ranil and his ministers ask us what the alternative to borrowing is. These are the people who destroyed the economy and society. They must leave. Then, we will find an alternative and develop the country,” he said, adding that the IMF loans had made crises in other nations worse.

“Ranil says that by 2025, we will have a budget surplus as in Japan, Germany and South Korea. These countries are economic power houses, and this comparison is ludicrous.”