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IMF’s Georgieva to press for quicker action on debt relief with China

Published

2 years ago

December 2, 2022

editor

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday that she will travel to Beijing next week with heads of other international institutions to press for quicker action on debt relief for poor and developing countries.

The meetings with the country’s leadership will focus on China’s economic, COVID-19 and debt relief policies and will include officials from China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China, the IMF said.

“This is the first time, hopefully, we will be able to sit together and discuss the very pressing issues that China, and the world are faced with,” Georgieva told the Reuters NEXT conference.

Georgieva said that during the Beijing meetings she intends to discuss ways to accelerate China’s participation in debt relief for poor and developing countries as the world’s largest official bilateral creditor.

“I am very hopeful that when we have a chance next week to discuss these issues, we will continue on a path of finding better solutions and strengthening the capacity of the common framework to deliver,” she said, referring to G20 countries’ slow-to-launch common debt restructuring framework.

World Bank President David Malpass told the conference that he would join the discussions in Beijing, along with officials from the World Trade Organization, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and others.

Georgieva and Malpass have both called for reforms of the common framework to offer heavily indebted countries a freeze in debt service payments when they apply for debt relief and clearer timelines for reaching agreement on debt treatments.

Asked if China’s slowing growth would limit its appetite for agreeing to debt reductions, Georgieva said she hoped that China would act out of “enlightened self-interest” and strive to prevent debt issues in developing countries from deepening and spilling over to a global debt crisis. Such a crisis would inflict pain on borrowing countries, but would also negatively affect creditor countries, especially China, she said.

China’s COVID-19 restrictions and turmoil in its vast property sector have brought China’s projected growth rate back to 3.2% for next year — barely above global averages and a phenomenon not seen during the past 40 years, she said.

“We have relied on China for a significant increase in global growth,” Georgieva said. “Some 35% to 40% of global growth used to come from China’s growth and this is not the case now, and it’s not going to be the case next year.”

(Reuters)

News

Major reforms planned for bus transport

Published

9 hours ago

April 28, 2025

editor

Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports, and Aviation, Bimal Rathnayake, recently held a special discussion with officials from the National Transport Commission (NTC), the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB), and the Provincial Road Passenger Transport Authorities across nine provinces. The meeting led to several key decisions aimed at modernizing and improving the country’s road passenger transport sector.

Among the major initiatives discussed were:

Immediate implementation of an integrated bus timetable for the Puttalam route.
Launch of a pilot project on Route 138, where all buses operate under a single association with profit-sharing arrangements.
Installation of GPS and CCTV systems in buses for improved monitoring and safety.
Development of an online ticket booking system in collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Technology.
Introduction of random drug and alcohol testing for bus drivers.
Mandatory issuance of bus tickets through electronic ticketing machines (implementation phase in progress).
Formulation of specifications for buses used in passenger transport.
Mandatory seatbelt usage for bus drivers.
Identification of new roads/routes for the addition of new bus services.
Provision of WhatsApp numbers for passengers to report complaints about buses, with numbers prominently displayed inside buses.
Minister Rathnayake emphasized the need for swift action to implement these measures and instructed officials to continuously monitor and report on the progress of each initiative.

(dailynews.lk)

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

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Chongqing gears up for 25th Lijia International Intelligent Equipment expo

Published

11 hours ago

April 28, 2025

editor

The international internet celebrity city of Chongqing in China will host a grand equipment manufacturing industry event – the 25th Lijia International Intelligent Equipment Exhibition 2025 next month.

The Expo will be held at the Chongqing International Expo Center from May 13th to 16th, 2025, attracting exhibitors and professional visitors from all over the world to discuss and showcase the latest technologies and products in the equipment manufacturing industry.

This exhibition, spanning across 100,000 sq. meters will bring together 1,400 globally renowned enterprises which will showcase their intelligent manufacturing equipment and technology, particularly the latest achievements, cutting-edge technologies, and high-end products in the fields of machine tools, industrial automation and robots, tool holders and measuring tools, sheet metal, die-casting casting, molds, rubber and plastic.

The 2025 Lijia Exhibition will also create multiple themed exhibition islands showcasing manufacturing powerhouses of China, which will comprehensively showcase solutions to industry pain points through on-site demonstrations, technical explanations, and physical displays.

In addition, the exhibition will also hold over 100 industry conferences and events. The main forum, “FIM-Future Intelligent Manufacturing Conference,” focuses on future factories, with the theme of AI+manufacturing. Industry experts are expected to provide suggestions and recommendations for manufacturing transformation.

Organizers point out that for global manufacturing enterprises, the expo is not only an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest technologies and products in China’s equipment manufacturing industry, but also also an important platform for gaining a deeper understanding of the Chinese market and expanding international cooperation. It will also open up opportunities to engage in in-depth exchanges and cooperation with Chinese counterparts, and to jointly promote the development and prosperity of the global equipment manufacturing industry.

News

RW issues special statement after exiting CIABOC (Video)

Published

12 hours ago

April 28, 2025

editor

Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe has left the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) after providing a statement today (April 28).

Soon afterwards, he had also made a special statement in this regard.

(Video : VoiceTube)

(Previous news 2025 April 28 – 9.20.a.m.)

Ex-President Ranil to appear before CIABOC today

Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe is scheduled to appear before the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) today (April 28) at 9.30 a.m.

He has been summoned to record a statement over the statement he had made on MP Chamara Sampath Dassanayake.

Former President Wickremesinghe, who was initially summoned to the CIABOC on April 17 but requested a postponement. He had requested a date after April 27th to appear before CIABOC, citing that his lawyer Ronald Perera is currently abroad.

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