Category: General Services

GENEVA, July 27, 2006 (AFP) – World Trade Organisation nations endorsed on Thursday suspension of free-trade negotiations after they collapsed on Monday, diplomats and trade officials said. Several countries attacked the so-called G6 of leading trading powers for refusing concessions to open the way for a treaty and said that progress made so far must […]

July 25 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is collecting all details of returnees from war torn Lebanon, to build up a stronger case in the event all affected people are given compensation. We cannot say from whom we are getting compensation, but from our side, we are getting ready for when the need and opportunity arises, […]

July 25, 2006 (LBO) – India has said that few Sri Lankan vanaspati manufacturers have put in bids to resume exports of the vegetable oil, though both sides have still not agreed to conditions. India™s National Agricultural and Marketing Federation (NAFED) have received three offers for import of 20,000 metric tonnes of vanaspati from Sri […]

GENEVA, July 24, 2006 (AFP) – Key negotiators have made no progress as they try to bridge persistent differences and end a deadlock in the World Trade Organisation’s struggling Doha Round talks on reducing trade barriers, diplomats said Monday. Crunch talks between six major trading nations on Sunday failed to deliver the much-needed breakthrough to […]

July 22, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to form a national media policy to regulate content aired on local television channels, President Mahinda Rajapakse said Saturday, during a meeting with heads of local broadcasting stations. Rajapakse said a consultative committee will also be formed on Monday to iron out procedures and regulations that will […]

July 21, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may still keep its duty free benefits to Europe when an EU trade deal ends in 2008, with the scheme to be extended for a further seven years. Under the Generalised System of Preferences plus (GSP+) scheme, Sri Lanka gets duty free access for exports to the European […]

July 21 (LBO) – The government is planning to amend a controversial levy on imported television programs and commercials, with concessions for English programming, a senior official said. There will be concessionary amendments to the new levy. The proposed amendments have to be approved by President Mahinda Rajapakse, R T L Weerasinghe, Senior Tax Advisor […]

July 20 (LBO) – The British High Commission Thursday warned Sri Lankans of being duped by lottery scams, especially if asked for money or personal bank details to claim winnings. The British High Commission says it gets letters from many Sri Lankans who have received authentic looking letters claiming they have won prizes in UK […]

July 20, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s media minister Thursday indicated that his ministry has not been consulted before a controversial tax on television stations airing foreign content, was implemented. “It is a decision under the Finance Act. We are just the implementing authority,” minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa told reporters. From July 16, all television […]

July 20, 2006 (LBO) – Top multinationals like Unilever have pulled out imported advertising on local television stations, after all foreign commercials were slapped with a one million rupee tax. With effect from July, all broadcasts of foreign television commercials are taxed at one million rupees a year, per ad, per language of broadcast and […]

July 20, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka™s treasury secretary is to give a ruling on Friday over the controversial tax slapped on television stations airing English content, following a meeting with broadcasters late Thursday. The tax, which also applies to Hindi language content, largely affects English language viewers who account for around 5-percent of total […]

July 16, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka™s private television stations said Sunday that they will be forced to stop broadcasting Hollywood blockbusters and serials following a controversial film tax that kicked in today. “Regrettably we will be forced to restrict our programmes and suspend popular dramas from tomorrow (Monday) if we don’t get a favourable […]