President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced that the Sri Lankan government expects to conclude discussions and reach an agreement with private bondholders on restructuring the country’s debt next week.

He made this statement while addressing the “Ekwa Jayagamu” public rally in Matara on Sunday (30).

In a significant milestone, Sri Lanka recently sealed a deal with the Official Creditor Committee (OCC) to restructure the debt owed to its bilateral lenders, including India, and signed a separate agreement with China for debt treatment.

Wickremesinghe noted that since signing the agreements with bilateral creditors, representatives of private bondholders have begun discussions with the government.

“As of now, we have successfully achieved progress on both sides. We are expecting to successfully conclude this by next week,” he said.

The President also announced that elections, including the Presidential Election, General Election, and Provincial Council Election, will take place within this year and next year.

The United National Party (UNP) and a section of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) launched the President’s election campaign island-wide, starting from Matara under the theme ‘Ekwa Jayagamu’ (Victory Through Unity).

The rally was attended by Ministers Prasanna Ranatunga, Kanchana Wijesekera, Ali Sabry, Harin Fernando, Manusha Nanayakkara, Ramesh Pathirana, Douglas Devananda, North Western Province Governor Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, and President’s Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor on National Security Sagala Ratnayake.

Tamar Amitai, a 25-year-old Israeli tourist who went missing in Uppuveli, Trincomalee, has been found safe following a three-day joint search operation.

Amitai arrived in Trincomalee last Tuesday and had booked a hotel online. The hotel reported her missing to the police on Wednesday after she did not return.

In response, a joint search operation involving the police, army, and the Eastern Province Tourism Authority, directed by the Governor’s office in the Eastern Province, was launched.

A breakthrough came when a villager provided a tip-off that a foreign woman matching Tamar’s description was spotted in a dazed condition near a jungle and a rock, approximately three kilometers from the hotel.

Amitai was found and admitted to the Uppuveli hospital, where she is reported to be in stable condition.

Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda has refuted Indian media reports about any new agreement between Sri Lanka and India regarding the Palk Bay boundary or the Kachchathivu island.

Responding to reports from Indian newspapers, Devananda yesterday told the Sunday Observer that there had been no discussions in the Cabinet about maritime boundaries in the Palk Bay.

Devananda took to task some Indian political parties for revisiting the 1974-1976 India-Sri Lanka Agreement on the Palk Bay boundary during the Indian elections, using the issue of Kachchathivu island to garner votes.

He said that such claims are common during elections, referencing the recent Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu.

He said that the boundary agreement was more disadvantageous to Sri Lanka, limiting access to minerals, pearl grounds, and other resources in the Wadge Bank of the Palk Bay boundary.

(sundayobserver.lk)

(Except for the headline, this story, originally published by sundayobserver.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)