Category: General Services

October 9, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Monday signed up for 20.5 million euros or a 2.67 billion rupee loan from the Dutch government to improve the drinking water facilities in six rural towns. Disbursed through Denmark™s Nordea Bank, the interest free loan falls under the Danish mixed credit programme where repayments are spread over […]

Sept 28 (LBO) – Japan™s Asia Pacific University (APU) tied up with Sri Lanka™s Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the ICT Agency this week, offering training for small and medium businesses and state institutions. The Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University is the only university in Japan to offer an entire curriculum in English from undergraduate […]

Sept 25 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has slashed tariffs by up to 70 percent on top imports like cement imported duty free from India, under a trade deal with the neighbouring country. Sri Lanka™s bilateral trade deal with India allows for a phasing out of tariffs over an eight year period, for goods that are […]

Sept 25 (LBO) – Sri Lankan song writers and other artistes are hoping a new licensing and royalty scheme being drawn up will help protect their creative work and prop up earnings. Local artistes have banded together to form ˜collective societies™, on the lines of similar groups in the United Kingdom, to represent the rights […]

Sept 21 (LBO) – Another round of Indo-Lanka trade talks ended this week, with no firm agreement on resuming controversial duty free exports of vanaspati oil from Sri Lanka to India. The Vanaspati Association of Sri Lanka says however that they have been kept in the dark about talks. Vanaspati is a hydrogenated vegetable oil […]

Sept 20 (LBO) – The government has offered private traders space on board state chartered vessels carrying food to war torn Jaffna on possible commercial terms, to build up a buffer stock ahead of monsoon rains in November that would make passage difficult. The government has been sending essential food items like rice to the […]

Sept 14 (LBO) – The Hayley™s group said Thursday that it had tied up with Bartronics India Limited to develop and market identification devices such as Barcodes and Smart Cards. The products like Radio Frequency Identification Devices and other data capturing and security solutions, will be marketed through Hayley™s logistics subsidiary Logiventures Ltd. These solutions […]

Sept 13 (LBO) – Sri Lanka and India are likely to clock in about three billion dollars in bilateral trade in the next year, despite some troubled investments, India™s finance minister Shri Chidambaram said Wednesday. The two countries saw trade grow from 650 million dollars six years ago when the Indo-Lanka free trade deal was […]

BEIJING, Sept 13, 2006 (AFP) – Six Hollywood studios said Wednesday they had filed suit against Chinese firms for allegedly selling illegal copies of their movies, in a case aimed at curbing the rampant piracy of Western films here. More than 90 percent of films sold in China on DVD are estimated to be pirate […]

Sept 11, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lankan producers of vanaspati a vegetable oil, are trying to break into the domestic market and diversify exports after being stung by recent Indian import controls. There are about 12 local manufacturers of the hydrogenated palm oil and similar product bakery shortenings a vegetable fat used largely for industrial […]

Sept 08, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka™s clothing trade, which employs about a million workers, is opposing trade union efforts to jack up minimum monthly wages to 10,000 rupees, due to spiraling costs and tight margins. Trade unions have asked the government to raise wages for all industries to a minimum of 10,000 rupees a […]

Sept 08, 2006 (LBO) – Local businessmen have been asked to diversify exports to Pakistan outside of a few traditional commodities, and fast, to fully exploit bilateral trade between both countries.Top exports to Pakistan Sri Lanka’s second largest trading partner in South Asia after India are largely confined to coconut products, rubber, tea, vegetable products, […]