Sri Lanka: Foreign soldiers to participate in ‘Comoran Strike’

By Supun Dias | Daily Mirror Online
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Four countries have been invited to come with eight man teams to participate in the ‘Comoran Strike’ exercise of the three armed forces to be held in September this year.

All together 68 foreign servicemen attached to the elite special forces will jointly conduct training missions with the special forces units attached to Sri Lanka Armed Forces.

Nearly 2,500 soldiers from the three armed forces including1,600 representing the army Commandoes and the Special Forces participates in the annual exercise which started in 2010.

The previous exercises were held in Silawarthura area in Trincomalee to enhance the striking capabilities especially in amphibious warfare operations.

This year the third SEAL (SEa, Air and Land) training exercise will be held in September but a place to conduct the exercise is yet to be disclosed.

The training focuses on improving decision making, commanding and efficiency in deciding command capabilities at a given situation to enhance the efficiency of the armed forces.

The training exercise is a brain child of the Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya.

© Daily Mirror Online

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U.S. Government officials to visit Sri Lanka

US Embassy Press Release
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Over the next two weeks the U.S. Embassy to Sri Lanka and Maldives will host four U.S. government visitors who will meet with government officials, civil society representatives, business leaders and political leaders.

Ambassador James A. Larocco from the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the U.S. Department of Defense National Defense University will visit Sri Lanka and Maldives from January 15-19, 2012. Ambassador Larocco joined the Center in August 2009, after serving more than 35 years as a diplomat.

Ms. Holly Vineyard, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia at the U.S. Department of Commerce will visit Sri Lanka January 17-19, 2012. Ms. Vineyard directs the Department's regional activities on market access, trade, commerce and compliance with international trade agreements.

Dr. Alyssa Ayres, Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia at the U.S. Department of State will visit Sri Lanka and Maldives January 18-24, 2012. Dr. Ayres assumed her position in August 2010 and her portfolio includes India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives.

Mr. Thomas O. Melia, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S. Department of State will visit Sri Lanka January 20-26, 2012. Mr. Melia joined the State Department in August 2011 after more than 25 years of experience in promotion of democracy and human rights.

© Embassy of the United States

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Sri Lanka at risk from global slowdown

Lanka Business Online
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Sri Lanka's post-war economic rebound is slowing and financial problems in key Western markets could reduce demand for the island's exports and hit earnings from worker remittances and tourism, the World Bank said.

It has also lowered its forecast for economic growth in the island, saying Sri Lanka is now expected to grow at 6.8 percent in 2012 and 7.7 percent in 2013.

Earlier this month, Sri Lanka's central bank said Sri Lanka's economy is projected to grow at 8.0 percent in 2012 after having grown at about 8.3 percent in 2011. The forecast was lowered from the earlier forecast of nine percent in 2012.

The World Bank said in a new report on global economic prospects that the global slowdown has been taking its toll on South Asia, with merchandise export volumes which had been growing very strongly in the first part of 2011, declining almost as quickly in the second half.

" . . . year-over-year exports in October are broadly unchanged from a year ago," it said.

"A deepening of the Euro Area crisis would lead to weaker exports, worker remittances and capital inflows to South Asia," the World Bank said.

"The EU-27 countries account for a significant share of South Asia merchandise export markets, although not as much as for some developing regions."

Moreover, the bank said, export financing from Europe, an important component of the region‟s trade credit, is particularly vulnerable to drying up, as was the experience during the 2008 financial crisis.

"At the country level, Bangladesh, the Maldives and Sri Lanka are particularly exposed to a downturn in European demand for merchandise," the World Bank said.

"With respect to services, tourism sectors could be especially hard hit in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, although greater diversification (with booming arrivals from Asia) should provide a buffer.

However, the World Bank noted that there could be some "countercyclical benefits" for goods exporters - the so-called 'Walmart effect' - for some sectors such as for Bangladesh's garment industry.

The bank also said that a slowdown in global activity would likely translate into lower oil prices that would ease pressures on current account and fiscal balances for the oil import-dependent nations like Sri Lanka.

"Worker remittances inflows could slow markedly through second round effects of weakened domestic demand in migrant host-countries, largely located in the Arabian Gulf," the report warned.

Worker remittances inflows were the equivalent to 7 percent of GDP in 2010.

"Despite a waning of the post-conflict rebound effects, GDP in Sri Lanka is estimated to have grown 7.7 percent in the 2011 calendar year, slightly below the 2010 pace of 8 percent," the report said.

"While growth was strong at the start of 2011, a deceleration became apparent in the second half of the year, on heightened uncertainty and weakening external demand, as reflected in a modest slowdown in industrial production growth."

Given the possibility of further weakening in the global economy, efforts at greater revenue mobilization particularly in countries like Sri Lanka could pay dividends by allowing governments to maintain critical social and infrastructure programs, the World Bank said.

Governments should also look at further improving the targeting of its safety nets and capacity to respond to a crisis to improve efficiency of social safety net programs, it said.

"With markets in the United States and Europe expected to experience prolonged weakness, South Asian countries have the opportunity to re-think and pursue new sources of growth for their countries," the World Bank said.

© LBO

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Sri Lanka: Private universities bill halted, for now

By Dinesh De Alwis | University World News
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After weeks of escalating opposition, Sri Lanka's higher education minister has temporarily withdrawn a proposed Private University Bill. But he is hoping to present a quality assurance bill to parliament related to private higher education providers. Meanwhile, lecturers have joined students in protesting.

At a press conference Higher Education Minister SB Dissanayake said that the new Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Qualification Framework Bill is not a private university bill. Its objective is to monitor and regulate private degree-awarding institutions in Sri Lanka.

The original Private University Bill was intended to pave the way for foreign institutions to set up branch campuses in Sri Lanka, which has ambitions to become a higher education hub in Asia. There are already 59 registered private degree-awarding institutions, according to Dissanayake, and out of them 32 institutions are affiliated to local and foreign universities.

The bill's provisions have never been made fully public although a draft was approved by cabinet last year. A year later, it has yet to be tabled in parliament.

Student demonstrations against private universities, which led to the closure of two universities, had spread to at least seven other universities last week.

And lecturers have joined the protests. The Federation of University Teachers' Associations (FUTA) launched a token strike against the bill on Tuesday 18 January.

"Before the bill is introduced to parliament it should be discussed with all stakeholders including students. The bill should be presented after creating a fruitful dialogue among all these parties," said FUTA spokesperson Mahim Mendis.

Dissent is also growing within government with two senior ministers, Wimal Weerawansa and Patali Champika Ranawaka, strongly opposing the private university bill.

Officials said minister Dissanayake would discuss the bill with several ministers on 23 January before deciding whether it will be presented to parliament. But it appears clear that the bill will not be tabled in it current form.

Meanwhile the ministry has said it is hoping to present the bill to monitor private degree-awarding institutions to parliament. It has insisted that the second bill is different, despite widespread belief that it is the same bill by another name.

Sanjeewa Bandara, convener of the Marxist-backed Inter University Students' Federation (IUSF), told University World News: "The government tries to fool us by changing the name of the bill. The title may be different but the intention is the same."

If the new bill allowed the setting up of private universities in SriLanka, said Bandara, his federation was against it. "The IUSF is aware that this proposed bill has legal provisions to set up private universities as well as to sell degree courses offered in state universities to private students."

According to the IUSF, the government should develop local public universities rather than establishing private ones. "If the government tries to establish private universities in the country, [it will] destroy free education. We are fighting against it," Bandara said.

The chair of the University Grants Commission Gamini Samaranayake said that the "the new wave of student unrest is a politically motivated one. They are trying to create a series of protests in Sri Lanka as an 'Arab Uprising'."

Prime minister DM Jayaratne has also claimed that "foreign forces" are behind protests against setting up private universities. He also said elements such as the separatist Tamil Tigers "want to create unrest in the country".

Dissanayake has described the protests as being "stage-managed to rouse students", and claimed Sri Lanka did not really need an act since private universities already existed in the country. "The private university is not a new concept to Sri Lanka. Private universities have been operating in Sri Lanka since 1987," he said.

"Some of these degree-awarding institutions maintain a good standard, but others are not so good. The proposed Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Qualification Framework Act will streamline and empower the state to monitor these private institutions.

"Our intention is to assure quality and protect the rights of the students. The bill has laws to close down sub-standard institutions."

© UWN

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