CAIRO, 16 July 2022, (TON): In May, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly told a visiting US trade delegation that the total value of American investments in Egypt in the fiscal year 2021-22 was $24 billion.

He said “this amount represented an increase of about $15 billion over the figure for the same period in 2020-21, and the investments were concentrated mainly in the fields of energy, petrochemicals, infrastructure, tourism, agriculture and industry.”

At the time, Madbouly called on American companies to form partnerships with the Egyptian government and invest in the energy sector and green projects.

By TON Nepal

On Thursday China agreed to activate the existing boundary mechanisms through joint discussions. Mechanisms are anticipated to be made quickly during the Nepalese Foreign Minister's upcoming China visit. Nepal and China held a joint consultation meeting on border affairs held virtually between the officials of both sides which agreed to activate the existing boundary mechanisms and a formal decision will be announced soon in this regard.

Emphasizing the importance of a joint inspection of the Nepal-China boundary, the two sides decided to initiate the process of starting the existing mutual mechanisms through joint consultations. Nepal and China had a quarrel over pillar number 57 in Dolakha district which was a major bone of contention after the height of Mt Everest, which was settled in December 2020.

Besides pillar no 57, disputes have often surfaced in Humla, Gorkha, and Kimathanka (Sankhuwasabha), which need to be resolved through joint inspection. Further resolving the dispute, as per the boundary protocol, both sides may regularly update the status of the boundary every 10 years.

The 1963 Joint Boundary Protocol has instituted three different mechanisms to solve with boundary issues Joint Inspection Team, Joint Expert Group, and Joint Inspection Committee. The mechanisms were preserved in the Nepal-China Boundary Protocol signed between the two countries on January 20, 1963.

The Nepali side, during the official visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also the State Councilor of China, in March, had suggested making a mechanism in a bid to conduct a joint examination of the border and update the latest status. The Nepal-China border spans 1,439 kilometers. The officials of the two countries have yet to select whether to restart the work from where it was left in 2011 or start anew.

Once they settle this issue, the next meeting will take the decision of forming mutual mechanisms. Mechanisms may be made during the upcoming visit of the Foreign Minister to China in near future. The two countries signed the last (third) boundary protocol in 1988.

They created the three mechanisms in 2006 which worked until 2011. After 2011, both sides had hardly deliberated and took initiative to hold the boundary consultation meeting in order to conduct a joint inspection of the border.

After signing the protocol in 1963 which followed the signing of the Nepal-China Border Treaty in 1961, the two countries signed such procedures again in 1979 and 1988. When both sides were ready to sign the fourth protocol in 2011 and the Nepali team was all set to visit China, the voyage was annulled in the last hour after a dispute over pillar number 57 could not be settle at that time.

Since then, Nepal and China are unsuccessful to conduct a joint inspections of the border and update the status of the boundary, a precondition for signing the boundary protocol. The meeting took stock of the overall state of Nepal-China relations, and held discussion on various matters relating to boundary and border management between the two countries, the Foreign Ministry said.

During the virtual meeting, the two sides also decided to recommence two-way trade through Rasuwagadhi/Kerung border port, by following to Covid-19 health procedures and guidelines.

Nepali traders, who are doing business in China, have long been trying a recommencement of the two-way trade through the Rasuwagadhi/Kerung and Tatopani border points. Despite several requests from the Nepali side, China, citing the Covid pandemic issue and was unwilling to resume a full-fledged trade through the trading points. At the meeting, for the first time, both sides agreed to open another border point in far western Nepal as requested by Nepal.

In an opinion to support the livelihoods of the people in the northern Himalayan region of Nepal, the two sides decided to open the Hilsa/Purang border port for the conveyance of goods and construction materials from China. Senior officials of various ministries of the government of Nepal, chargé d-affairs of the Embassy of Nepal in Beijing, and consul general of Nepal in Lhasa participated in the bilateral consultation meeting.

The Chinese delegation comprised senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other numerous ministries of China, the Foreign Affairs Office and other departments in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, and the chargé d-affairs of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Kathmandu. It seemed that this virtual meeting between both sides are the beginning of the new relationship between Nepal and China.

DHAKA, 16 July 2022, (TON): The Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has started attestation to demand letters from employers to facilitate labour migration from Bangladesh to Malaysia that remained suspended for four years.

Officials at the high commission said “over a hundred companies had already submitted their demand letters and some 15 of them got them attested following verification.”

Md Nazmus Sadat Salim, Minister Labour said “we are receiving letters from scores of employers though online system. We received more than 100 demand letters Jobs are mainly in manufacturing, construction and plantation sectors.”

Salim, however, did not disclose the total number of jobs.

DHAKA, 16 July 2022, (TON): The embassy of the United States in a briefing in Dhaka said “the Bangladesh-India border was vulnerable to human trafficking and working to fight trafficking remained the embassy’s one of the top priorities.”

An official of the US embassy said “it is very much on our radar that border areas, especially with India, are particularly vulnerable to cross-border trafficking. We are very closely engaged with the organisations working on rescue and repatriation of victims back to Bangladesh.”

The embassy organised the background briefing on the country’s most comprehensive trafficking report to be released next week.

The embassy officials said “the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report reflects the US government’s commitment to global leadership on this key human rights, law enforcement, and national security issue.”

Srinagar, 16 July 2022, (TON): Official sources said “an Army jawan allegedly shot dead his colleague and later killed himself in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.”

They said “Naik Imtiyaz Ahmed had a scuffle with Sepoy Ibrar during a road opening party (RoP) exercise in the Surankote area around 5.30 am.”

The sources said “In a fit of rage, Ahmed opened fire from his service weapon, killing Ibrar on the spot and injuring two other soldiers.”

They added “later, Ahmed fired at himself and he succumbed to injuries at a hospital.”

The sources said “the injured soldiers are undergoing treatment at a hospital.”

They said a court of inquiry (CoI) has been ordered into the incident.

DHAKA, 16 July 2022, (TON): according to a joint report “a total of 73.5 per cent of people are unable to afford healthy food in Bangladesh as one needs to spend $3.064 for getting required nutrition per day.”

Among the eight Southern Asian countries, the report found Bangladesh the third most vulnerable country in terms of taking nutritious foods.

The global report titled ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022’ was jointly prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

It was published on July 7 for repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable.

DHAKA, 16 July 2022, (TON): A negotiation between the finance ministry and International Monetary Fund over a proposed loan deal worth $4.5 billion will start in the capital.

Finance ministry officials said “they were collecting the updated data from ministries and divisions regarding the country’s macroeconomic situation before starting the negotiation with IMF officials.”

A nine-member IMF delegation headed by its division chief in the Asia and Pacific Department Rahul Anand arrived in Dhaka on Thursday to hold talks with the senior officials of the finance ministry, the central bank, the National Board of Revenue and the Economic Relations Division.

Another team headed by IMF executive director for India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka Surjit Bhalla is expected to visit soon to finalise the terms and conditions of the loan.

DHAKA, 16 July 2022, (TON): State minister for foreign affairs, Md Shariar Alam, has called for strengthening global solidarity and adopting a well-coordinated response to address and overcome the ongoing challenges of the ongoing multiple and interlinked challenges.

He said “as a member of the Champions of the Global Crisis Response Group, my prime minister Sheikh Hasina is working with other global leaders to chart a global response commensurate with the scale and gravity of the crises.”

Shahriar was addressing a ministerial roundtable titled ‘Accelerating achievement of the SDGs by 2030, addressing on-going crises and overcoming challenges’ at the High-level Political Forum 2022 at the UN headquarters in New York.

The permanent representative of Bangladesh to the UN ambassador, Rabab Fatima, and high-level officials were present at the event.

He said “Bangladesh rolled out 22 billion dollars of stimulus to keep our economy afloat, the social safety net was extensively expanded. Besides, we also spent billions of dollars on vaccines.”

By Nasriya Naffin, TON Sri Lanka

In the near past, the Sri Lankan cabinet granted permission for fuel import and retail sales to companies from oil exporting nations as the country has been halted for two weeks by the government with no sufficient fuel to run the nation. Schools have been closed and millions of people have been requested to work from home as both private and public transportation is finding it difficult to provide their service. The step was important to overcome fuel crisis.

According to the government statements, the country has only fuel to run the country just for a day under its regular demand. Fuel supply has been restricted only to essential services by the government. However, the Indian Oil Company (IOC) has been supplying fuel at their fuel stations on a regular basis but due to high demand and limited amount of fuel, fuel stations owned by IOC have never ending vehicle queues near them. According to local media daily clashes have been reported near these fuel stations among the public waiting in lines for days.  

Minister of Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said, companies will be selected based on their ability to import fuel and operate without FOREX requirements from the central bank of Sri Lanka and other banks for the first few months. Ceylon Petroleum Corporation will remain as the service provider for logistics, stocking and distribution with a service fee charged from the companies. Out of 1190 outlets from CEYPETCO few will be given and a few more new outlets will be opened for these new companies. The country's refinery will remain under CEYPETCO.  

Currently there is no confirmed fuel shipment that is said to arrive for the coming week and very soon the public transport will completely stop and the country may need to extend power cuts if there is a shortage in fuel for the power plants.

The island nation is facing its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948 resulting in acute shortages of food, fuel, medicine and cooking gas. Transportation, distribution, education and the country's one of the largest foreign income generator-- tourism sectors has been hit hard. Most of the industries are suffering due to daily power outages and shortage of fuel. It has become difficult to distribute essential food items and medicines throughout the country. Patients and the medical staff find it difficult to reach a hospital when it is an emergency.

Aviation industry has been affected too with fuel shortage; State run Sri Lankan airlines has cut down its schedules already. Schools have been closed for longer period of time after the pandemic. The online education system has not shown any success during the pandemic, especially in rural parts of the country where buying a smart phone and having access to internet is difficult for many children.

Fisheries industry on the other hand has also been severely affected by the fuel shortage. Many fishermen have not got fuel for their boats. There's a massive scarcity of fish in the market and fish prices have gone up drastically that many people have stopped consuming fish as they cannot afford it anymore.   

According to the energy minister, finding money for fuel is the problem and it has become the huge challenge. India was supplying most of the country's fuel needs recently by a credit line. Last week India has sought payment in advance for their future fuel supplies as Sri Lanka has run completely out of its dollar reserves. The island nation has requested for an approval of a fresh credit line of USD 500 million for its fuel purchases.  

Sri Lanka has already sent its representatives to Qatar and Malaysia to discuss the present fuel shortage and get some assistance. They have even started discussions with Russia in this regard.  Meanwhile, representatives of a Russian oil company arrived at Colombo last week to negotiate an agreement for oil supply after a telephone conversation held between the heads of the countries. Russia may enter the oil distribution market in Sri Lanka as they face many sanctions from the western world.

The country may also look into possible trade agreements and it will be a good opportunity for Sri Lanka to boost its tourism once again for Russians. Russians were contributing a lot for Sri Lankan tourism especially during and after the pandemic until the Ukrainian war started.

Public anger worsens at the government of the country. The government says that it needs to print money to settle employees' salaries as they are out of funds. This action may lead to further price hikes and cause further inflation. The existing youth unrest has been mounting and resulted in a mass of protestors storming into the president’s official residence, The Temple Trees, and the old Parliament building demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime minister Ranil Wickramasinghe to step down on the 9^th of July the situation in Sri Lanka has become unstable as the president has fled the country, and has appointed the prime minister as the acting president. Sri Lanka is currently working on political stability, debt sustainability and debt restructuring to continue further discussions with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package of USD 3 billion. It is high time that the new leadership including Sajith Premadasa should come forward to stabilize the country.

By TON Research Desk

On Saturday mobs ended the Rajapaksa Raj in Sri Lanka. As huge crowds of angry youth stormed the official residences of the President and the Prime Minister and set fire to the private residence of the Prime Minister forcing the hands up of both the two leaders.

Both President and Prime Minister declared their intention to resign. While the President said he would quit on July 13, the Prime Minister said he would quit as soon as the proposed all-party government was formed.

Meanwhile, a meeting of all parliamentary parties called by the Speaker had demanded the resignation of the President and the Prime Minister and proposed that the Speaker take charge as interim President for thirty days within which parliament should elect a President to complete the outgoing President’s term.

The party leaders rejected PM's plea that he be allowed to complete critical talks with the IMF for a bailout package and get petroleum from various countries. The mob violence was unprecedented because it was the first time that anger was directed against the top rulers of the country and not a minority community, Tamils or Muslims.

The police and fire services watched as thousands broke iron barricades and occupied the President’s colonial-era mansion and the Prime Minister’s official residence. Later in the night, the mob gleefully set fire to the Prime Minister’s private residence destroying hundreds of books, antiques, and paintings collected by the PM and his wife, both aesthetes.

It looked as if the Sri Lankan State machinery had smashed under the heaviness of the agitators’ numbers as well as the public support they enjoyed. The island nation’s citizens suffered for months for want of basic necessities like food, fuel, and medicines. Both the President and Prime Minister were in residence at the time of the attacks, having been displaced to unidentified safe houses by the army.

Now it is obvious to President that the political situation has turned against him irrevocably. The first sign of the system's downfall seemed when the courts declined the police’s request to ban rallies near the President’s house.

The curfew that the police had clamped the previous night, was lifted at 8 am on Saturday on the demand of the Bar Council of Sri Lanka. Trains and buses, which were not supposed to run on Saturday, did run, carrying thousands of protestors to Colombo.

The police, who were fighting the marchers primarily eventually gave in and allowed the crowd to attack the President’s and the PM’s official residences and residences. The army had decided not to act, seemingly because Western nations had warned against the use of force against “serene” protestors.

Above all, several members of the ruling coalition led by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) demanded the resignation of the President. It looked as if the President had no legs to stand on. His support structure, comprising the ruling party and its coalition partners, the law and order machinery, and the courts, had collapsed. Extra-constitutional forces like the “Gota Go Home” agitators.

The common demand was for an all-party government under Prime Minister whose political legality was probed because he was not an elected MP but a selected one. And he represented the United National Party (UNP) which did not have even a sole elected MP. That PM had the support of the President and the SLPP, the single largest party in parliament.

According to the news, President has fled just moments earlier, helped by troops who fired into the air to clear his escape. Once he had left, the mood inside the compound was celebratory.

Sri Lanka’s future is now extremely uncertain for many reasons as the formation of an all-party government is difficult because the parties in parliament are an extremely disparate lot, each in hard rivalry with the other. Further, there is no energetic leader to gather the many groups under one umbrella. Given the uncertainty reasons the IMF package is also in jeopardy, foreign aid may stop, and foreign investment will not come which has increased Sri Lanka's solidarity in danger.