President Rajapaksa visits South Korea; Sri Lanka Coast Guard took part in a sea exercise; The first ever bilateral consultations between the Ministry of External Affairs of Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel held; India takes action
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Whatsapp
  • Linkedin
  • Print

    • (APRIL 16-22)

    Reports noted that President Mahinda Rajapaksa made a four-day official visit to South Korea from April 23 – 27 on an invitation extended by the South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak. 1 Following bilateral talks between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Korean counterpart, Lee Myung-Bak, agreement for the cooperation in the area of Informatization, agreement on the Economic Development Cooperation Fund to provide USD 200 million for the development activities in Sri Lanka and agreement for an Electric Power Partnership were signed between two nations at the Blue House, the official residence of the Korean President in Seoul. 2

    In another development, according to reports, the Sri Lanka Coast Guard took part in a sea exercise jointly conducted by Indian, Sri Lankan and Maldivian Coast Guards in the seas off Male from April 23 till April 27, 2012. 3

    Reports noted that the first ever bilateral consultations between the Ministry of External Affairs of Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel were held at the Ministry of External Affairs in Colombo on April 20, 2012. 4

    According to reports, the government of India has taken action to initiate a programme to rehabilitate war widows in the Eastern Province. 5

    In another development, according to reports, the Sri Lanka Army strongly denied a media report that said unexploded cluster munitions have been found in North. The Army noted that the military had not used cluster bombs and that cluster munitions have not been found in the North as reported by a foreign news agency quoting an UN official. The army called for providing evidence on the report that has claimed cluster munitions have been found. 6

    In other developments, according to reports, the recently released results of the 2012 Change Readiness Index have ranked Sri Lanka at the 22nd place among 60 developing and emerging world economies and first among South Asian countries. The survey conducted by the KPMG International, in collaboration with researchers from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has assessed the level of change readiness across 60 countries with a focus on developing and emerging markets. India has ranked 23th place, Bangladesh at 45th place, Nepal at 50th, and Pakistan at 54th place. 7

    Top