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Sri Lanka wants a longer-time period to negotiate a free trade agreement with China as it is concerned about the economic impact of a rushed deal on their small country, the Sri Lankan ambassador said on Sunday. There has been rising concern in the South Asian nation about Chinese investment, a key part of Beijing's Belt and Road initiative to create a modern-day Silk Road across Asia. Hundreds of Sri Lankans clashed with police at the opening last year of a Chinese-invested industrial zone in the south, saying they would not be moved from their land. It was the first time opposition to Chinese investments in Sri Lanka had turned violent. Speaking on the sidelines of an independence day reception at the Sri Lankan embassy in Beijing, ambassador Karunasena Kodituwakku said a free trade agreement with China could not be rushed. ‘We'd like to have the process a little longer. China would like to have it faster,’ Kodituwakku told Reuters. ‘Because Sri Lanka being a small economy, we have to get a consensus from stakeholders,’ he added. ‘Therefore the delay is due to the time period. But eventually we will sign the agreement.’ Sri Lanka last month signed a free trade agreement with Singapore, but Singapore's economy is not as complex as China's, Kodituwakku said. ‘Chinese imports are very important to Sri Lanka, but opening up the whole thing in a short time may make some problems for local companies. Therefore we have to balance it.’ Sri Lanka has also been trying to get investment for a little utilised airport on its southern tip, in Mattala, built at a cost of $253 million by China, which also provided $230 million of funding. ‘No doubt it was a white elephant. It is still a white elephant,’ Kodituwakku said. India had been in advanced talks with Sri Lanka to operate the airport, but the ambassador said no deal had been reached. ‘We have to turn it into a viable economic venture. In fact we gave the option to Chinese companies. I know Chinese companies have shown an interest, but according to our studies they were not having a viable economic plan and that's why they had to give the option to India,’ he said. ‘The Indian offer had been there, but even that has not been finalised,’ Kodituwakku added. ‘Anyone who want to come and turn the Mattala airport into a viable economic venture will be welcome. But unfortunately no one has taken over.’

Sri Lanka has ordered a corruption investigation at its national carrier, including the controversial termination of a management deal with Emirates airline, the government said yesterday. President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed a five-member panel to investigate the financial transactions of Sri Lankan Airlines from 2006 to 2008, when the deal with Emirates was ended, a statement from his office said. Sri Lankan Airlines, founded in 1979 as Air Lanka, was profitable until the government of strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse, who ran the country from 2005 to 2015, kicked out the Emirates management team. The deal was cancelled in 2008 after Emirates refused to bump fare-paying business class passengers to give the seats to Rajapakse’s family, who were returning to Colombo from London. A furious Rajapakse removed the Emirates-appointed CEO of Sri Lankan from his post and put his brother-in-law, who had no aviation industry experience, in charge of the airline. Since then, Sri Lankan Airlines has sunk into the red, with an estimated loss of more than a billion dollars and debts of $3.2bn. Sirisena’s office said he ordered the five-member panel to focus on the “termination of agreements between Sri Lankan Airlines and Emirates, including reasons and ramifications thereof.” Emirates paid $70mn to buy a 43.6% stake in Sri Lanka’s national carrier when it was privatised in 1998 and had a contract to fully manage the airline till it was forced to leave. Emirates’ share of the company was eventually bought by the Sri Lankan government. A criminal investigation is already underway into the airline’s purchase of new Airbus aircraft at a cost of over $2bn during Rajapakse’s decade in power. The mounting debt crisis at Sri Lankan Airlines has forced the new government to seek international partners to inject capital and manage the airline, but there have been no takers so far. The move comes amid allegations that Sri Lanka’s new government, which came to power January 2015, has been slow to crack down on corruption under Rajapakse. The government last week set up special courts to investigate charges of corruption amounting to billions of dollars under the former regime.

Sri Lanka has ordered a corruption investigation at its national carrier, including the controversial termination of a management deal with Emirates airline, the government said Saturday. President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed a five-member panel to investigate the financial transactions of Sri Lankan airlines from 2006 to 2008, when the deal with Emirates was ended, a statement from his office said. Sri Lankan, founded in 1979 as Air Lanka, was profitable until the government of strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse, who ran the country from 2005 to 2015, kicked out the Emirates management team. The deal was cancelled in 2008 after Emirates refused to bump fare-paying business class passengers to give the seats to Rajapakse's family, who were returning to Colombo from London. A furious Rajapakse removed the Emirates-appointed CEO of Sri Lankan from his post and put his brother-in-law, who had no aviation industry experience, in charge of the airline. Since then, Sri Lankan airlines has sunk into the red, with an estimated loss of more than a billion dollars and debts of $3.2 billion. Sirisena's office said he ordered the five-member panel to focus on the ‘termination of agreements between Sri Lankan airlines and Emirates, including reasons and ramifications thereof.’ Emirates paid $70 million to buy a 43.6 percent stake in Sri Lanka's national carrier when it was privatised in 1998 and had a contract to fully manage the airline till it was forced to leave. Emirates' share of the company was eventually bought by the Sri Lankan government. A criminal investigation is already underway into the airline's purchase of new Airbus aircraft at a cost of over two billion dollars during Rajapakse's decade in power. The mounting debt crisis at Sri Lankan airlines has forced the new government to seek international partners to inject capital and manage the airline, but there have been no takers so far. The move comes amid allegations that Sri Lanka's new government, which came to power January 2015, has been slow to crack down on corruption under Rajapakse. The government last week set up special courts to investigate charges of corruption amounting to billions of dollars under the former regime.

The former head of Sri Lanka’s central bank was named in court yesterday as a key suspect in a multi-million dollar bond scam. Arjuna Mahendran, a Singapore national of Sri Lankan origin, was ordered to present himself to police before February 15 to respond to charges under the state property act. He and his bond-dealer son-in-law Arjun Aloysius are accused of manipulating of bond auctions in 2015 and 2016, causing losses of over $11mn to the state. Mahendran was not present for the hearing and is believed to be in Singapore. A damning presidential report into the high-profile bond scandal accused him of insider trading and recommended the state recover its losses from Mahendran and his  son-in-law. The bond scandal has deepened acrimony between President Maithripala Sirisena and his coalition partner Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who handpicked Mahendran to head the central bank in 2015. Sirisena has publicly accused Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) of being more corrupt than the previous regime they toppled together in 2015 after cobbling together an alliance. In a televised statement on Wednesday, President Sirisena said, “I will not hesitate to take steps to recover the loss of $11mn to the government and to take legal action against the offenders and punish them.” The allies ended the 10-year rule of strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse, whose regime had been accused of graft and nepotism. The bond scandal has shaken the union and called into question their pledge to clean up governance. Sections of the 1,154-page report released last month recommended prosecuting Ravi Karunanayake, finance minister at the time of the scandal, for graft and perjury over his links with Aloysius. He resigned as foreign minister in August last year after his association with the controversial  bond dealer went public. The investigation also recommended a forensic audit of the central bank during the Rajapakse era, saying insider trading had occurred under his rule.

Sri Lanka is to set up special courts to investigate charges of corruption amounting to billions of dollars under former president Mahinda Rajapakse, the government said yesterday. The move, designed to accelerate the process of trying such cases, follows criticism over the slow pace of justice under the government elected three years ago. President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in 2015 promising to stamp out corruption and punish members of the former administration accused of stealing vast sums from Sri Lanka’s coffers during Rajapakse’s decade in power. “There will be special three-judge high courts set up exclusively to hear bribery and corruption cases which are currently clogging the lower courts,” the government said in a statement. Sirisena has said as many as half of all public procurement contracts under the Rajapakse administration were corrupt and the new government has renegotiated several multi-billion dollar projects. Rajapakse’s chief aide Lalith Weeratunga has already been convicted on a charge of misappropriating $4mn and sentenced to three years in prison. Two of the former president’s three sons have been charged with money-laundering and other family members face  allegations of corruption. Rajapakse, who is not under investigation, denies any wrongdoing and says his successor is carrying out a witch hunt. Official sources said the new courts could start functioning by the middle of this year. Last Friday, President Sirisena said that more than $58bn, or 90%, of foreign loans borrowed by the previous government was unaccounted for in finance ministry records. Sirisena also said a large sum of funds under the previous government that should have been deposited with the treasury have gone to private companies. This was done in a systematic manner to avoid disclosure, he said. His administration is facing a debt crisis and struggling to face an expensive loan repayment cycle started this year. It must repay an estimated Rs1.97tn ($12.85bn) in 2018 – a record high – including $2.9bn of foreign loans, and a total of $5.36bn in interest. “President Maithripala Sirisena said of the Rs10tn rupees loans taken by the previous government from abroad, only about Rs1tn could be accounted for in the assets and huge sum of money could not be accounted for in the documents in the finance ministry,” his office said in a statement. The president also criticised his own coalition government, saying some of the sales of state properties during the last three years were done without informing the cabinet. However, ministry officials of the last government said President Sirisena’s numbers  were false. The central bank’s latest records show Sri Lanka’s total outstanding debt was Rs10.3tn as of the end of September  last year. Under the previous government from 2004-2015 led by Rajapakse, Sri Lanka borrowed Rs5.17tn of total loans including Rs2.16tn ($14.06bn) of foreign loan.

China will invest $1bn to construct the first building complex in Sri Lanka’s Port City project in capital Colombo this year, Sri Lankan Minister of Megapolis and Western Development Champika Ranawaka said.  The Port City project is being constructed close to the Colombo Harbour by China Communications Construction Co, the parent company of China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), and will attract billions of dollars as investments in the coming years. Ranawaka said that in order to kick-start investments, CHEC this year would invest and construct three 45-storey buildings, which would be part of the International Financial Center in the Port City, Xinhua reported. He said, “To facilitate the construction of the building complex, we have done a comprehensive environmental and social impact assessment, and a new piece of legislation for the Port City will be passed in parliament by April or May. The physical work of the building complex will commence in the mid of this year.” He added that CHEC would also invest in the construction of the underground tunnels connecting Colombo city to the Port City. However, the underground tunnel will provide a north-south link through one of the busiest traffic areas of Colombo, and will provide an underground road connection to the road network of the Port City as well. He further added that two memoranda of understandings for the building complex project and the tunnel project had been signed between Sri Lanka and China. Meanwhile, the Colombo Port City project will consist of 269 hectares of reclaimed land and will be the first of its kind in South Asia. Australian aid to improve Lanka reforms: Australia has provided a grant of A$31mn for Sri Lanka’s governance initiatives from national to local level to support economic reforms, strengthen public sector service delivery especially for women and people with disabilities and urban planning. Australia and Sri Lanka have signed a ‘subsidiary arrangement’ for grant assistance to work together on strengthening governance in Sri Lanka through the four-year programme valued at Rs3,850mn, a finance  ministry statement said.  “The Governance for Growth Programme aims to support Sri Lanka’s efforts to increase economic growth and spread the benefits of that growth to reduce poverty and inequality in the country,” it said.  The programme will support activities that improve the policy formation and delivery capabilities of government at national, provincial and local levels to bring about inclusive economic growth.  Some of the activities under the programme include a partnership with the World Bank to support the Sri Lankan government’s implementation of national economic reforms. It includes work with The Asia Foundation to strengthen public sector service delivery at the subnational level, including for women and people with disabilities, the statement said. “The programme will also provide opportunities for research collaboration and building of institutional linkages to support the quality of Sri Lanka’s economic decision-making  and public service delivery.”

Clashes between elephants and humans are rapidly increasing in Sri Lanka. Rangers and villagers are working to find ways to avoid the conflict and the devastating, at times deadly, impacts on both sides. At dusk, elephants get closer to villages in search of food.

Sri Lanka’s government is still using draconian anti-terror laws that give police sweeping powers to arrest and detain suspects despite promising to abolish them, Human Rights Watch said yesterday. The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) allows the detention of suspects for long periods without trial and was widely used during the decades-long civil war that ended in 2009. The government of President Maithripala Sirisena promised to abolish the act after it was elected in 2015, but has so far failed to do so. “The Sri Lankan government has been all talk and no action on repealing the reviled PTA,” said HRW’s Asia director Brad Adams as the rights group released a new report detailing alleged abuses under the act. “Replacing this draconian counterterrorism law with one that meets international standards should be an urgent priority if the government is serious about protecting human rights.” Sri Lanka says more than 80 detainees are still being held under the act, although local rights activists believe the true number could be in the hundreds. HRW said it found the PTA was a “significant contributing factor” toward the persistence of torture in Sri Lanka nearly a decade after the end of the civil war. Its 46-page report documents abuses allegedly committed under the PTA, including torture and sexual abuse, forced confessions and systematic denials of due process.

Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena has said he has not yet decided if he would seek a second term. Sirisena’s current term ends in January 2020 and the next presidential election must be declared by November 2019. His comments came in the midst of his current stand-off with his unity government partner of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP). Sirisena in the recent weeks has taken the UNP to task while campaigning for the February 10 local council election. He has openly criticised the UNP for corruption, an allegation stemming mainly from the report of a probe he ordered on a scam connected to the issuance of bonds by the Sri Lanka Central Bank. Then governor Arjuna Mahendran, an appointee of Wickremesinghe, has been accused of insider trading. Sirisena has also faced a stiff challenge by the leadership of former strongman Mahinda Rajapakse. Rajapakse’s new party is expected to create dents in the SLFP support at the local election. Sirisena was backed by the UNP in the presidential election of 2015 against Rajapakse. This resulted him from being sacked from the SLFP by Rajapakse. However, after Sirisena won the presidency, Rajapakse handed him the party leadership.

Sri Lanka’s president said yesterday that more than $58bn, or 90%, of foreign loans borrowed by the previous government was unaccounted for in finance ministry records. However, ministry officials of the last government said President Maithripala  Sirisena’s numbers were false. The central bank’s latest records show Sri Lanka’s total outstanding debt was Rs10.3trn as of the end of September last year. Sirisena, who is struggling to deliver his 2015 election promise of eliminating corruption, also said a large sum of funds under the previous government that should have been deposited with the treasury have gone to private companies. “This was done in a systematic manner to avoid disclosure”, he said. His administration is facing a debt crisis and struggling to face an expensive loan repayment cycle started this year. It must repay an estimated Rs1.97trn ($12.85bn) in 2018 - a record high - including $2.9bn of foreign loans, and a total of $5.36bn in interest. “President Maithripala Sirisena said of the Rs10trn loans taken by the previous government from abroad, only about 1trn rupees could be accounted for in the assets and huge sum of money could not be accounted for in the documents in the finance ministry,” his office said in a statement. Sirisena’s office did not respond when asked if the numbers were correct. However, it confirmed that the president stated the numbers. He made the comments to a group of  local editors. The president also criticised his own coalition government, saying some of the sales of state properties during the last three years were done without informing the cabinet. Two officials at the finance ministry who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said Sirisena’s statement on the foreign loan was wrong. Under the previous government from 2004-2015 led by Mahinda Rajapakse, Sri Lanka borrowed Rs5.17tr of total loans including Rs2.16tr ($14.06bn) of foreign loan. Ajith Nivard Cabraal, central bank governor between 2006 and 2015 and a close ally of former leader Rajapakse, said the president may have made “this irresponsible statement to sling mud at the previous regime”. “Sri Lanka has diligently and faithfully recorded all foreign borrowings in accordance with our laws and regulations as well the terms of issue, during the time of the previous  government,” Cabraal said.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrived yesterday on a two-day state visit on the invitation of his Sri Lankan counterpart Maithripala Sirisena. Widodo was to be accorded a ceremonial welcome with guard of honour and 21-gun salute at the Presidential Secretariat, Xinhua news agency reported. Both leaders were to hold discussions later on a range of issues of mutual interest. Several MoUs will be inked between the two countries. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will also hold discussions on economic, trade and investment  co-operation with Widodo. Sri Lanka and Indonesia established diplomatic relations 65 years ago and have had cordial bilateral relations since then, the foreign ministry said. Sirisena paid a state visit to Indonesia in 2016. Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, left, shakes hands with Indonesian President Joko Widodo as his wife Iriana looks on during a bilateral ceremony at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo yesterday.

The World Cup trophy has arrived in Sri Lanka for the first time as the most coveted prize in global soccer started a 54-country tour ahead of the 2018 tournament in Russia. The trophy arrived late on Tuesday and was unveiled by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at two separate events with the participation of French 1998 World Cup-winning midfielder Christian Karembeu. “We are privileged to be selected as the first country on the FIFA trophy’s international tour,” Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara told a gathering as the World Cup was put on display for the public. The trophy was scheduled to be taken to Male in the Maldives later yesterday. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, right, former France national soccer player Christian Karembeu, second right, and Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara, second left, pose for photographs with the FIFA World Cup trophy which starts a 50 country global tour from the Sri Lankan capital at a ceremony in Colombo, yesterday.

Sri Lanka yesterday signed its first comprehensive two-way free trade agreement (FTA) with Singapore, aiming to expand its export market and boost investment amid heavy debt and diminishing export demand from Western nations and Europe. Both countries’ trade ministers signed the deal at an event attended by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is on a three-day official visit to Colombo, and Sri Lankan  President Maithripala Sirisena. “It signals to the world that the country is moving to a new era in international trade and investment,” Sri Lanka’s trade ministry said in a statement. “While we focus on growing and sustaining our traditional markets of the United States and Europe, we have begun to diversify our markets towards Asia and focus on plugging in to Asian supply chains.” Sri Lanka’s exports rose around 9% to $9.4bn in the first 10 months of 2017, up from the corresponding period the  previous year. Total exports have declined to around 13% of gross domestic product, from more than 20% two decades ago, hit by lack of export diversification and falling demand. Sri Lanka’s exports to the United States have fallen to 20% in 2016, from 27% in 2011, while exports to European nations and the United Kingdom also fell to 31% from 35% over the same  period. A lack of dollar inflows coupled with increased spending on infrastructure had pushed Sri Lanka into expensive borrowing. It needs to repay a record high of an estimated Rs1.97trn ($12.85bn) in 2018, including $2.9bn of foreign loans, mainly from China, and a total of $5.36b in interest. Sri Lanka is participating in China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative. China has already leased a strategic port in the southern city of Hambantota and is building a financial city near the main port in Colombo, the capital, with an investment of $1.4bn. Global investors have expressed interest in investment in Sri Lanka, which is strategically located on the east-west shipping route of the Indian Ocean. The FTA has potential for diversification of exports through the trade-investment nexus it encourages and new joint venture opportunities for Sri Lankan companies, the trade ministry said. The services sector in the pact is wider than in proposed pacts with China and India, including telecommunications, financial services,   e-commerce, and procurement. Sri Lanka, with a population of 20mn, is already in discussion with China and India for similar comprehensive pacts to tap more than 2bn consumers. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, left, shakes hands with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena during a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo yesterday.

Exiled Maldives opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed accused China yesterday of seizing land in the politically-troubled Indian Ocean archipelago and undermining its  sovereignty. Nasheed, on a visit to the Sri Lankan capital Colombo where his Maldivian Democratic Party activists are based, also warned of the rise of radical Islamists in the  holiday paradise.  Nasheed said Chinese interests had leased at least 16 of the nation’s 1,192 scattered coral islands and were building ports and other  infrastructure. The 50-year-old said the increased Chinese presence could threaten the Muslim-majority nation of 340,000 and the wider Indian Ocean region. Nasheed called the Chinese action a “land grab”. “This is colonialism and we must not allow it. We want other countries (in the region) to join us and speak the same language (against Chinese expansion). We are not against any country, not against direct foreign investment, but we are against relinquishing our  sovereignty.” Nasheed said 80% of the Maldives’ foreign debt was owed to China and it could end up handing over more land and infrastructure as it may not be able to repay the loans. Nasheed, who wants to contest this year’s presidential election, said he would renegotiate contracts with China if successful. Nasheed in 2008 became the Maldives’ first democratically elected president but was ousted in an alleged coup backed by religious  extremists in February 2012. In 2013, he stood again for the presidency but was defeated by  Abdullah Yameen. In 2015, he was jailed on terrorism charges which he says were politically motivated, and has lived in exile in Britain for two years after Maldives authorities let him travel there for medical treatment. Nasheed said key branches of the government were being infiltrated by conservative people. “Paradise is threatened by a extremist takeover,” he said. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that there is now a parallel state in the Maldives. A state within the state. A network of religious radicals has infiltrated strategic institutions, the government and the street gangs.” “They lie in wait, ready to overrun the country and impose a radical version of religion upon Maldivians and tourists alike,” Nasheed said. He estimated that about 300 Maldivians had joined Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq and many were returning to the atoll nation. Last week, the Maldivian government promised to block websites seeking to radicalise the population after the United States warned its nationals that extremist groups may attack with little warning in the popular tourist destination. A crude explosive device was set off at a park in the capital Male in 2007 injuring a dozen tourists, most of them Chinese, in what was seen as a home-grown terror attack.  There have been no recent attacks targeting tourists however. Nasheed is almost certain to be arrested if he returns to the  Maldives for the election. The constitution bars him from being a candidate because of his criminal conviction. But he hopes the restriction will be lifted in  response to international pressure. A UN panel has ruled that Nasheed’s imprisonment was illegal and ordered authorities to pay compensation. The government has refused.

Singapore and Sri Lanka will likely sign a free trade agreement (FTA) today  during Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s visit to the island country. The Singaporean prime minister arrived in Colombo yesterday for a three-day official visit. The media quoted analysts and businesses as saying that they expect a boost in trade between the two economies and greater access for Singapore firms to the growing market. Song Seng Wun, economist at CIMB Private Bank, said with China heavily investing in the South Asian island country, among other things, a port and a financial centre, the FTA will help Singapore benefit indirectly from the fruits of China’s Belt and Road Initiative there.

Sixty-three people were arrested following violent clashes in southern Sri Lanka yesterday, local police said. The violent clashes erupted between the police and protesters yesterday afternoon in Kataragama, around 280km away from capital Colombo, when a police official allegedly gunned down a youth who was riding a motorcycle and had defied police orders. Police said the youth had refused to stop for police inspection despite warnings. Following the youth’s death, a large mob had attacked the local police station. Security had been tightened in the area. Police spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekera said the policeman who had allegedly shot the youth had been arrested while police chief Pujith Jayasundara had deployed a special team to probe the incident.

Sri Lanka’s president announced yesterday that he would take control of the island’s economy from the prime minister, as relations worsen between the ruling party and its main coalition partner. Maithripala Sirisena said he would directly manage the economy through a special economic council headed by him, taking over the responsibility from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his United National Party (UNP). “Although the UNP was allowed to manage the economy in the past three years, from this month, the president will take it over,” his office said in a statement. Sirisena joined hands with the UNP to topple Mahinda Rajapakse in January 2015, ending the strongman president’s decade in power. But since then their alliance has fractured, with Sirisena clashing with free-market champion Wickremesinghe over economic policy. There was no immediate reaction from Wickremesinghe to the decision, which came after a heated cabinet meeting in which Sirisena accused the UNP of unleashing a smear campaign against him, according to sources close to the president. Tensions between the coalition partners have escalated over Sirisena’s efforts to extend his presidential term by one more year till 2021, a move that was shot down by the Supreme Court last week. The UNP has indicated it may go it alone in the next general election in 2020. Sirisena has publicly accused the UNP of being more corrupt than the Rajapakse regime which they both ousted. During his rule, Rajapakse granted himself greater powers over the police, judiciary and civil servants, excesses which Sirisena pledged to curb upon his election. Parliament voted overwhelmingly in early 2015 to restrict the power of the presidency, restoring a two-term limit and reviving independent bodies to manage key institutions such as the police and the judiciary. In recent weeks, Sirisena has sought to assert his authority, reimposing a four-decade-long ban on women buying liquor, just days after his finance minister and UNP leader Mangala Samaraweera lifted the restriction earlier this month.

Sri Lankan and Chinese think tanks have jointly launched a book on the Sino-Lanka relations titled The Island of the Lion and the Land of the Dragon in order to strengthen their bilateral links. The book consists of a series of essays on Sri Lanka, China relations compiled by Sri Lanka and Chinese scholars and is a joint publication of the Pathfinder Foundation in Sri Lanka and the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, reported Xinhua news agency. Speaking at the launch, Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Governor, Indrajit Coomaraswamy, said that China has been one of Sri Lanka’s largest development partners and a strong friend. “This launch is the outcome of some very hard work. While Sino-Lanka relations have been excellent for many years, the future is even more exciting,” he said. Charge d’Affairs of the Chinese embassy in Sri Lanka, Pang Chunxue, said the launch of this book was a very unique moment in the relations between the two countries. Pang said that while 2017 was a very important year for the bilateral relations of China and Sri Lanka as the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 65th anniversary of the Rubber Rice Pact, the launch of this book was a good start for 2018.

A tourist takes a photograph at the Galle Face beach in Colombo yesterday. Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka hit a record high in 2017, with the number of foreign visitors in December rising 8.8% year-on-year to an all-time monthly peak. Tourist arrivals rose 3.2% to 2.1mn in 2017, government data showed, last week. Revenue in 2016 increased to an all-time high of $3.4bn, beating the previous record of $2.98bn in 2015, the Central Bank data showed.

Sri Lanka yesterday destroyed $108mn worth of cocaine in public, seized by authorities in the port of Colombo which is increasingly becoming a transit hub favoured by drug smugglers in Asia. The authorities destroyed 928kg (more than 2,040 lbs) of the drug, the largest cocaine haul in Asia, which was found in a container of timber on a Colombian ship bound for India in December 2016, and represented part of more than 1,700kg of drugs seized in the past three years. The drug haul was destroyed under a special facility in a cement factory close to the  country’s main airport. “We are very serious about the zero tolerance policy on this ... we have a long way to go,” said Minister of Law and Order Sagala Ratnayaka attending the event. “Sri Lanka is being used as a transit hub. This haul would have been for transit purposes and some parts of it come into Sri Lanka. There is a distribution process and we are tracking the network and the peddlers.” Through August last year, Sri Lankan customs seized six shipments of high-quality South American cocaine in 14 months, including Asia’s largest-ever haul of the drug in December 2016, at its main port. On that occasion, about 1,770kg of cocaine, with a value of $140mn, was seized, of which 840kg was found in sugar shipments from Brazil. Senior police officials have told Reuters some gangs are seeking to mask their shipments to Australian and European markets by bringing them into Sri Lanka, then sending them on in Sri Lankan containers.