Monthly archive

By Quintus Perera - Asian Tribune

John Keells Consumer Foods is now entrusted to handle the catering to Sri Lanka Railways. The Railway Catering Service provides food and beverage services to several thousands of railway commuters at all leading stations and on board trains on selected routes around the country. J&P Catering Services managed by a professional hotelier -Chef Jilan de Silva, has taken over the Railway Catering Service, has tied up with the John Keells Consumer Foods Sector to upgrade the standards and quality of the service provided and thus Sri Lankan railway commuters will soon enjoy Elephant soft drinks, Elephant House ice creams and Keells and Krest food products through the network’s restaurants at all leading railway stations and also on Buffet Cars on selected routes.

By M Rama Rao, India Editor, Asian Tribune

New Delhi, 03April (asiantribune.com): Leaders of the G-20 nations at their second meeting in London, have agreed on a $1 trillion dollar boost for the world economy. They also accepted radical reforms of the global banking system designed to reduce the risk of future market meltdowns. The Leaders of the G-20 nations resolved that , "We are determined not only to restore growth but to lay the foundation for a fair and sustainable world economy. We recognize that the current crisis has a disproportionate impact on the vulnerable in the poorest countries and recognize our collective responsibility to mitigate the social impact of the crisis to minimize long-lasting damage to global potential. They also added , "we reaffirm our historic commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goals and to achieving our respective ODA pledges, including commitments on Aid for Trade, debt relief, and the Gleneagles commitments, especially to sub-Saharan Africa;."

By Farzana Shah-Asian Tribune Correspondent in Pakistan

Information Minister of North West Frontier Province Iftikhar Hussain on Thursday termed Pakistan's problems and Talibanization as a result of interfering in Afghanistan and involvement of Pakistani intelligence agencies. The minister said 95 per cent of Pakistan’s problems could be resolved if the country 'stopped interfering in Afghan affairs', adding that Talibanisation is a 'foreign-funded agenda supported by Pakistani agencies which has facilitated blood bath across Pakistan.'

Effective from 20th March 2009, Sri Lankan Exporters can enjoy duty free access for about 4,000 products to the Pakistan market under the final phase of trade liberalization of Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement.. (PSFTA). This has occurred as a direct result of Prof. G.L.Peiris, Minister of Export Development and International Trade having discussions with Pakistani authorities. The Government of Sri Lanka and Pakistan have concluded this Free Trade Agreement in 2002 that came into force with effect from 12th June 2005. The main objective of these bilateral agreements was to develop further the economic relations between Sri Lanka and Pakistan through expansion of trade in Goods, Services and Investment relations.

By Ravi Ladduwahetty- Sri Lanka Editor- Asia Tribune

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has cautioned his Cabinet that he had been notified by intelligence sources that 16 LTTE suicide cadres have entered the Colombo city. The President had cautioned his Ministers at the weekly Cabinet meeting Wednesday night, political sources told "Asian Tribune." He has also advised Ministers not to hold large scale meetings in the run up to the Western Provincial Council polls billed for April 25 and had asked them to be extremely careful about their movements.

By Ernest Corea

The twenty nation (G20) summit that was convened in London to confront the challenges of economic recession has reaffirmed its commitment tothe Millennium Development Goals which are expected to raise the world’s poorest nations out of poverty. The joint Declaration issued yesterday (April 2) at the end of the meeting pledged that decisions reached by the G20 would make an additional US$50 billion available "to support social protection, boost trade and safeguard development in low income countries," thus lessening concerns – if only for the present – that the hunt for ways to protect the developed economies would leave the poor nations even further behind.

The Executive board members of Canadian Tamils for Peace and Democracy today voted unanimously in favour of an emergency resolution put forward declaring absolute support to the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa to eradicate Terrorism in Srilanka. The resolution, requests the President to undertake "whatever actions deemed necessary" to crush Terrorism and putforth a reasonable political solution to Tamils. It also thanked the Government of Srilanka for the conference in Colombo inviting moderate Tamils – Sri Lankan oversees to consult and discuss the solution. The resolution strongly rebuked some member countries of the United Nations and European Union for launching attack on the rights of the democratically elected Government of Srilanka and for undermining its efforts to eradicate Terrorism from Sri Lankan soil.

Pakistan’s external debt and liabilities (EDL) surged to $50.9 billion in the first six months of current fiscal year (July-December) from $46.3 billion in end-June 2008, reveals "Review of Economic Situation", released by the Finance Ministry. The EDL has gone up to 31.2 percent of projected Gross Domestic Products (GDP) of current fiscal year that was 27.6 percent by end-June 2008. According to the review, foreign investment saw a decline of 34.2 percent in first eight months (July-February) from $2.873 billion to $1.89 billion.