MoU between Sri Lanka – Singapore
An MoU was signed requesting Surbana Jurong of Singapore to formulate a master plan for the development of the Trincomalee metropolitan area and surrounding cities. It was signed by the Secretary to the Ministry of National policies and Economic Affairs and the Chief executive officer of the Surbana Jurong of Singapore in the Presence of [...]
Capital Maharaja makes historic UN statement
May 2016 (Istanbul)- The Capital Maharaja Organisation Ltd., one of Sri Lanka’s largest privately held conglomerates, recently added another feather to its cap by becoming the first Sri Lankan company to be invited to present a statement at a major UN Summit. The inaugural World Humanitarian Summit that concluded recently in Istanbul, Turkey saw the [...]
Ivan and Wigneswaran “Unearthed”
C.V. Wigneswaran, the present Chief Minister of the Northern Province, was one of the keynote speakers at the launch of Kusal Perera’s book, “Unearthed”, which contained a collection of articles espousing the cause of national reconciliation. In his speech, reminiscing about his days at Royal College and in lighter vein, he mentioned how he invited [...]
The forgotten sacrificial police officers
Six hundred and thirty brave police officers who were offered as live sacrifices to the LTTE on 11th June 1990 have become a forgotten lot. On representations made to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the LLRC made a strong recommendation that this holocaust be fully investigated. But neither the UNP nor the SLFP [...]
The Trans-Pacific shell game Jomo Kwame Sundaram
ROME – The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement is being portrayed as a boon for all 12 of the countries involved. But opposition to the agreement may be the only issue that the remaining US presidential candidates can agree on, and Canada’s trade minister has expressed serious reservations about it. Are the TPP’s critics being [...]
Revealed: India’s ambitious new naval strategy
Recent developments in the Indian Ocean have been a witness to India’s mustering enough political will to advance its regional interests through actionable deliverables, visibly in opposition to mere notional assertions of the past. As India reorients its Indian Ocean policy, a tripartite transformation is underway—a regional outlook that ties together India’s Act East policy, [...]
Operationalising the hub
The word “hub” is often in use these days with reference to Sri Lanka, from the geography-linked concept of a “maritime hub” in the Indian Ocean to the six hub plan of national development adopted by the former government of Mahinda Rajapaksa, namely maritime, aviation, commercial, energy, knowledge and tourism. The hub plan appears to [...]