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Debt-restructuring talks, two MoUs during Jaishankar’s visit

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The government is to hold debt restructuring talks with India, one  of the key creditors, during a scheduled visit by India’s External  Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar who is due here next Thursday, President  Ranil Wickremesinghe told trade union leaders yesterday.

“We discussed China’s Exim Bank earlier this week and by now we have  started exchanging views on it. India’s External Affairs Minister is  scheduled to visit Sri Lanka on January 19 to discuss the debt  restructuring process. We are proceeding with these activities  gradually,” President Wickremesinghe said.

During Mr Jaishankar’s visits, two memorandums of understanding are  likely to be signed. 

One of the MoUs is for the Trincomalee development project  and the other for a power grid connectivity project with India, the  Sunday Times learns.

Meanwhile, a high-level Chinese delegation led by Chen Zhou, Vice  Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party, arrived  here yesterday for bilateral talks.

Mr. Chen met President  Wickremesinghe last evening and delivered a letter from Chinese President  Xi Jinping.

The Chinese Embassy in a twitter message said, “They had  friendly and fruitful dialogue on how to enhance bilateral pragmatic  cooperation and party-to-party exchanges”.

Earlier this week, China’s Exim Bank Chairman Wu Fulin held  a virtual meeting with President Wickremesinghe on the debt  restructuring process and cooperation between the two countries.

Commenting on the status of the ongoing debt restructuring  programme, President Wickremesinghe said the government had completed  talks with Japan — one of the three main creditors to Sri Lanka, besides China and India.

Following these talks, the President stressed that the country would  be able to secure USD 2.7 billion Extended Fund Facility from the  International Monetary Fund (IMF) in three or four instalments.

“In addition, we have the capacity to get USD 5 billion from the  World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and others. By the end of the  year, a number of different programmes are scheduled to resume with  Japan,” the President said, explaining the path to recovery from the  economic crisis the country currently undergoes.

(sundaytimes)

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Names of Mayors and Chairpersons of several LG bodies gazetted

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A gazette extraordinary has been issued containing the names of Mayors, Deputy Mayors, Chairpersons, and Vice-Chairpersons of several local government institutions.

The names have been gazetted based on recommendations sent to the National Election by political parties and independents groups that secured a majority in local government bodies at the recently concluded Local Government (LG) election.    

Accordingly, the Election Commission has taken steps to publish the names from among the political parties and independent groups that secured a majority at the Local Government election held recently.

The names of the elected and nominated members for the respective local authorities, following the Local Government election were also published in the government gazette based on the respective administrative districts.

As per the gazette notification issued by the Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils, and Local Government on February 17, 2025, the term of office of local government bodies is scheduled to commence on June 2, 2025

පළාත් පාලන ආයතනවල සභාපතිවරුන්ගේ නම් ඇතුළත් ගැසට් පත්‍රය නිකුත් කෙරේ by poornima

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Weather Alert: Showers to ease in Southwest, strong winds forecast in North

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Prevailing showery condition in the southwestern part of the island is expected to reduced gradually from today (01st)

Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and North-western provinces and in Galle and Matara districts.

Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in Uva province and in Ampara and Batticaloa districts during the afternoon or night.

Fairly strong winds of about (30-40) kmph can be expected at times over Western slopes of the central hills and in Northern, North-central and North-western provinces and in Hambantota and Trincomalee districts.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

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Aluthgamage and Fernando assigned printing work in prison

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Former Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage and former Sathosa Chairman Nalin Fernando, sentenced this week to jail for 20 and 25 years, respectively, have been assigned duties in the printing section at the Welikada prison, sources said.

Both of them are being held together away from the main section of the prison’s ‘chapel’ section, where prisoners serving life sentences and those convicted of murder and rape are held. The prison’s printing section prints its own documentation.

Prison sources said that in placing them in relevant wards to serve their jail term, the authorities had taken into consideration the security of the two convicts, as they might have had political enemies.

Mr Aluthgamage was handed a 20-year term of rigorous imprisonment, while Mr Fernando was given a 25-year term of rigorous imprisonment by a High Court trial-at-bar after being found guilty of causing a Rs 53 million loss to the state.

They were accused of importing carrom boards and checkers boards through Sathosa during the 2015 presidential elections and distributing them to clubs.

Their lawyers said yesterday they were awaiting the certified copy of the judgement to prepare the appeal papers. The appeal will be considered by the Supreme Court.

(sundaytimes.lk)
(This story, originally published by sundaytimes.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

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