Sri Lanka export industry threatened by tax refund delays

May 28, 2007 (LBO) – Delays in making value added tax (VAT) refunds are forcing Sri Lankan exporters to borrow at high cost and threatening export growth, a senior industry official has warned. “The VAT refund is one of the major crises that Sri Lanka’s import-export industry is currently facing,” says Rohan Masakorala, a former […]

Law Club

May 27, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has been re-elected to the United National Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) for a six year period, the foreign ministry said Sunday. The next meeting of the UNCITRAL will be held in Vienna, Austria from June 25 to July 12. Other countries elected to represent the Asian […]

WTO proposes lower tariffs on agricultural products from poor nations

GENEVA, May 26, 2007 (AFP) – The World Trade Organisation on Saturday proposed sharply lowering tariffs on some agricultural products from poorer countries in exchange for them reducing trade protection measures. The WTO’s chief agriculture negotiator, Crawford Falconer, said the new proposal could allow for progress in the stalled Doha round of negotiations aimed at […]

Sri Lanka-Abu Dhabi cricket tour row hots up

May 27, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan cricket’s governing body hit back at the national team’s chief selector Sunday, after his dismissal of last week’s one-day series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi as “absolutely ridiculous.” An official at Sri Lanka Cricket said they had sent two letters to Asantha de Mel, the chairman of selectors, […]

Sri Lanka conflict to continue in the months ahead: analysts

May 27, 2007 (AFP) – A new wave of air and naval combat is likely in Sri Lanka as government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels step up battles that have killed more than 5,000 people since peace talks collapsed, analysts say. British High Commissioner Dominick Chilcott said: “The only solution to this massive disruption of […]

Fresh Sri Lanka violence kills nine

May 27, 2007 (AFP) – Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a road side bomb in eastern Sri Lanka Sunday, killing three civilians as six more people were killed in separate clashes, police said.The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) blast blew up a truck, killing the three people at Thirukkovil, a police official […]

Extradition Quest

May 26, 2007 (LBO) – The Philippine government has asked for arrested operators of the Questnet referral schemes in which tens of thousands of poor Asians and Africans have lost money, to be formally extradited, reports said. Earlier in May, the public face of the Quest International (QI) group, Vijayeswaran Vijayaratnam, director Joseph Luis Tomacruz […]

” players for cash

May 25, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s senior cricket officials on Friday clashed over this week’s one-day series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, with the chief selector dismissing it as “absolutely ridiculous. ” Asantha De Mel said the series was too soon after the World Cup, criticising Sri Lanka Cricket which organised the lucrative one-day […]

Japan under pressure over Sri Lanka aid

TOKYO, May 26, 2007 (AFP) – An international human rights group is lobbying Sri Lanka’s top donor Japan to exert greater pressure on the island nation to address spiralling violence. But Tokyo said it has no plans for now to slash aid and follow the lead of Sri Lanka’s former colonial ruler Britain and Germany, […]

Dubai Flight

May 25, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka government and Emirates airlines would soon have discussions on extending Srilankan Airlines’ management deal with the Dubai based carrier, a top official said. “A team is coming to meet the President on this,” Finance Ministry Secretary P B Jayasundera told LBO Friday. Dubai government-owned Emirates has a 10-year […]

General Growth

May 25, 2007 (LBO) – Janashakthi Insurance Co. Ltd, says general insurance premiums grew 37 percent in the first quarter with motor insurance growing 40 percent. The general insurance has grossed 1,028 million rupees, which was up 277 million for the March quarter. Gross written premium of the life side has also grown 27 percent. […]

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