Category: South Asia
‘s developing country status that includes wealthiest countries
Oct 25, 2019 (LBO) – South Korea is to give up special treatment reserved for developing countries by the World Trade Organization in future negotiations given its enhanced global economic status, its finance minister said on Friday. South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, has maintained its developing country status as a member of the WTO since […]
Esala Weerakoon approved as next secretary-general SAARC
Oct 07, 2019 (LBO) – The informal meeting of the council of ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) held in New York last week has approved the nomination of former Foreign Secretary and senior career diplomat Esala Weerakoon, to be the 14th Secretary General of the association. The office will come […]
‘s revises its growth forecasts for 16 Asian economies
Aug 23, 2019 (LBO) – Moody’s Investors Service in a newly released report has revised downwards its GDP growth forecast for 16 economies in Asia Pacific. Of the 16, Hong Kong and Singapore have shown particularly weak expansions this year, with very large deteriorations in real GDP growth when compared to the first half of […]
Pakistan suspends trade with India, downgrades diplomatic relations
Aug 08, 2019 (LBO) – Pakistan on Wednesday expelled India’s high commissioner and suspended bilateral trade as a response of India’s move to end special status for Jammu and Kashmir and split it into two union territories. Indian officials, however, says that Islamabad’s decision to suspend trade with its neighbor will hit Pakistan not India. […]
Sri Lanka expects to resume tea exports to Iran from August
July 25, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka expects to resume Ceylon Tea exports to Iran under a special barter agreement between the two countries by the end of next month, the Plantation Ministry said. According to the ministry, Ceylon Tea will be exported to Iran to settle a due amount of 240 million US dollars […]
Foreign Minister clarifies appointments for UN Special Rapporteur
Special Statement by Tilak Marapana, Minister of Foreign Affairs in Parliament – 25.07.19 It has been brought to my notice that last Tuesday (23 July) and Wednesday (24 July) several Members of the Parliament have brought up the issue of the visit of the Special Rapporteur on the freedom of assembly and of association, Mr. […]
University of Technology Sydney launches UTS Insearch Sri Lanka
July 05, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday officially launched Colombo’s newest international higher education college, ‘UTS Insearch Sri Lanka’. The launch will see University of Technology Sydney (UTS) bring its latest developments in higher education learning from Sydney to support the skills and knowledge Sri Lankan students need for international study […]
Modi to visit Sri Lanka on Sunday, 9th June
Jun 07, 2019 (LBO) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sri Lanka on Sunday June 9. He will be making the stop after the Maldives on June 8 and 9 and the visit comes following the invitation of President Maithripala Sirisena during his recent trip to India. The Indian Premier is due to […]
Modi wins second term
May 24, 2019 (LBO) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a landslide victory with his party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) securing a larger number of seats than the 2014 election. With final results yet to be declared BJP has secured 302 out of 543 elected lower house seats so far.This would push the BJP […]
US-China trade tensions: Fitch says further tariff escalation would hamper global growth
May 13, 2019 (LBO) – The US decision to increase tariffs to 25 percent on an additional 200 billion dollars of imports from China marks a significant escalation in US-China trade tensions, and highlights the risk of a protracted trade war beyond our current assumptions, the Fitch Ratings said. The rating agency, however, said the […]
World leaders condemn Easter Sunday blasts in Sri Lanka
Apr 21, 2019 (LBO) – World leaders have offered their condolences to the victims and families of the deadly blasts in Sri Lanka that killed more than 200 people on Sunday.The United Nations in Sri Lanka said they strongly condemn the attacks against civilians carried out in places of worship and city hotels on Easter […]
IMF cuts global growth forecast further to 3.3-pct in 2019
Apr 10, 2019 (LBO) – Reflecting the slowdown in production activity in the latter half of 2018 and the first half of 2019, global growth is set to moderate from 3.6 percent in 2018 to 3.3 percent in 2019, and then to return to 3.6 percent in 2020, the IMF said releasing its World Economic […]