By TON Sri Lanka

Logically short of fuel and cooking gas, and nearly abandoned by China, Sri Lanka is giving up its entrenched misgivings about the United States and the Middle Eastern Islamic countries and is looking for their help to overcome the manifold predicaments Colombo is facing now.

As the Sri Lankan cabinet approved a proposal by the Prime Minister for implementing a program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) named. The Program for a Democratic and prosperous Sri Lanka to help endure amidst financial disasters.

This program, to be performed with a grant of $57 million, will concentrate on “fruitful democratic governance, development based on a safe market, and consolidation of the incomes vital to sustaining pressure and stress.

To move forward towards the deal, Sri Lankan PM said the cabinet there is a practice to implement. He remembered that in 2011 Sri Lanka had signed two agreements with the United States to fund two projects, namely, a “package to make durable the collaboration for egalitarian good governance and social integrity” and a “program to make a maintainable and protected economic development.” These two programs had been implemented in the past he said, and added that the suggested agreements with USAID would be on alike lines.

Excitingly, though the current deal sailed through the cabinet, a suggestion to sign the $480 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact by the existing Prime minister government in 2019 was opposed fiercely by Sri Lankan nationalists.

The MCC’s project was planned to ease the decrease of movement crowding in Colombo, streamline the bus service and advancement of inter-provincial roads in central Sri Lanka. It also comprised support for government enterprises to improve administration through better land registering methods.

The successor government delayed the signing of the compact in November 2021 and declared that he would never sign it. Subsequently, the United States itself canceled the MCC offer “due to absence of partner country engagement.”

Moreover, there was a factor of the pact saying that if the Sri Lankan government did not wish to carry out any part of the project for some reason, it had the option of removing these elements. However, these provisions did not appease the fears of the nationalists.

The latest agreements with USAID, by dissimilarity, are not well-defined by the public. However, there has been no adverse public reaction either. This is because the government is frantic to get the United States on board in its bid to save the gravely ill economy.

However, the U.S. has put up its conditions too. It has made aid dependent on Sri Lanka’s accepting the IMF’s bail-out conditions, which are predictable to be declared by the end of July. Conspicuously, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has indicated that the IMF’s agreement with Sri Lanka must be depending on the independence of the Sri Lankan Central Bank to take a strong anti-corruption measures, and promotion of the rule of law.

Apparently, without these critical reforms, Sri Lanka could suffer further economic mismanagement & irrepressible debt. The IMF had said in a statement on June 30 that its 10-day talks with Sri Lanka would have to move onward on debt rearrangement to confirm a bailout.

As the public debt is assessed as unsustainable, Executive Board approval would require adequate financing assurances from Sri Lanka’s creditors that debt sustainability will be restored,” the IMF said at the end of its meetings in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s inflation grew 54.6 percent in 12 months up to June 2022. Food prices rose 80.1 percent in the past year. The country is incapable to ingress fuel because of a shortage of forex and foreign fuel vendors are asking for advance payments or for guarantees from non-Sri Lankan banks.

Desperate to get fuel, the incumbent government has sent a delegation even to Qatar to get oil on credit. Power and Energy Minister met the Qatar minister of state for energy affairs, and the president and CEO of Qatar Energy, to get petroleum products, liquid petroleum (LP) gas, and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

In the process, Sri Lanka had to retract an earlier decision to prohibit Qatar Charity, a Qatar government organization, from operational in Sri Lanka. Then-Sri Lankan National Security Minister had barred Qatar Charity in January 2021 for its unproven involvement in the serial suicide attacks connecting Islamic terrorists in April 2019 and previously alleged the organization, named “Pearl of Unity,” had been funded by Qatar Charity.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) then subsequently froze the accounts of Qatar Charity in Sri Lanka. These steps, along with the government’s ban on Muslims burying their COVID-19 dead on the false ground that burials would pollute groundwater, estranged the Muslim world.

However, despite the lifting of the ban on Qatar Charity, the Qatar authorities expressed to the Sri Lankan energy minister, that Qatar would help but would base its decisions on the IMF’s agreement with Sri Lanka. As the IMF’s endorsements and Sri Lanka’s readiness to implement them would be critical for aid flow.

As the IMF talks move ahead, Sri Lanka’s creditors would like debt re-structuring to cover loans from China too. But China is reluctant to agree to debt restructuring. The Western powers say that China’s loans are not transparent; some loans are hidden. Chinese loans constitute 19.9 percent of the total foreign loans taken by Sri Lanka, but the official figure is 10 percent.

At the moment India appears to be at the end of its tether with Sri Lanka. As India importing fuel from Russia despite the fact that U.S. and Western sanctioning against Russia for attacking Ukraine.

DHAKA, 09 July 2022, (TON): Bangladesh is set to observe one-day state mourning on Saturday in honour of Bangladesh’s true friend and Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe who was assassinated.

The Cabinet Division issued a notification in this regard on Friday evening.

The national flag will be kept at half-mast at all government, semi-government and autonomous institutions and educational institutions, and Bangladesh missions abroad in observance of the mourning day.

Special prayers will be offered on Saturday seeking eternal peace for the departed soul of Abe.

DHAKA, 09 July 2022, (TON): A statement from the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh said “about 7.2 million people have been severely affected following devastating flash floods which began in May with a second wave starting on June 15 in nine northeastern districts of Bangladesh.”

The affected districts are - Sylhet, Sunamganj, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Kishoreganj, Netrakona, Brahmanbaria, Mymensingh and Sherpur.

Of them, Sylhet, Sunamganj, Moulivazar, Habiganj and Netrakona are the most affected.

According to the statement “ joint mission of the United Nations, humanitarian donors  and NGO partners visited the flood-affected districts of Sylhet and Sunamganj.”

The mission aimed to see the impact of and response to the floods express its solidarity with those affected and offer condolences.

NEW YORK, 09 July 2022, (TON): Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have extended cross-border aid to Syria by one year without Damascus’s backing.

The authorization for aid deliveries across the Syrian-Turkish border at Bab Al-Hawa, which has been in effect since 2014, is set to expire Sunday.

The aid is a lifeline for more than 2.4 million people in the northwestern Idlib region of Syria, under the control of jihadists and rebels.

Thirteen of the fifteen Council members voted in favor of the text. China, which often votes the same way as Russia, chose to abstain.

JAKARTA, 09 July 2022, (TON): Top diplomats from the world’s leading rich and developing nations failed to find common ground on how to deal with Russia’s war in Ukraine and its global impact as they met in Bali.

The conflict in Ukraine, one of the world’s breadbaskets, has disrupted global supply chains and stoked an energy crisis, as international sanctions slapped on Moscow, a major oil and gas producer have led to rising inflation in many countries.

The Group of 20 foreign ministers’ meeting took place as Indonesia, which this year holds the rotating presidency, has been facing pressure to exclude Russia from the G-20 summit, which is scheduled to take place in Bali in November.

The group includes Western countries that have accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine, but also nations like China, India and South Africa that have remained neutral.

BALI, 09 July 2022, (TON): Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Friday on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Bali.

The pair discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation, as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern, including security and stability in the Middle East.

The meeting was also attended by Essam Al-Thaqafi, the Kingdom’s ambassador to Indonesia, and Abdulrahman Al-Daoud, director general of the foreign minister’s office.

In his address to the G-20 meeting, Prince Faisal confirmed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to the group’s efforts to build bridges with regional and international organizations and consolidate the effectiveness of multilateral action.

NEW DELHI, 09 July 2022, (TON):  India has announced one day of state mourning on July 9 as a mark of respect for former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who was shot while delivering a campaign speech in Nara city in western Japan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet "as a mark of our deepest respect for former Prime Minister #ShinzoAbe, a one-day national mourning shall be observed on 9 July 2022."

PM Modi wrote "I am shocked and saddened beyond words at the tragic demise of one of my dearest friends, Shinzo Abe. He was a towering global statesman, an outstanding leader, and a remarkable administrator. He dedicated his life to make Japan and the world a better place."

DHAKA, 09 July 2022, (TON): The United Nations Human Rights Council has adopted a resolution calling upon Myanmar to repatriate the persecuted Rohingyas taking shelter in Bangladesh without delay despite initial opposition from some Western countries.

A press release from the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh in Geneva said “Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on behalf of its all member states placed the resolution on the ‘State of Human Rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar’ at an initiative of Bangladesh in the ongoing 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.”

Press release said “the council expressed concerns at the reports of serious human rights violations and abuses in Myanmar, particularly against Rohingya Muslims and other minorities.”

The Western countries opposed the resolution that called for the immediate repatriation of Rohingya to Myanmar citing the ground that the repatriation was not possible unless the ongoing political crisis in Myanmar was over.

DHAKA, 09 July 2022, (TON): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged the Western countries to lift the sanctions on Russia, saying “millions of people across the world were suffering as the sanctions impacted global supply chains and increased prices food and other commodities.”

Because of the US-led sanctions, food prices are skyrocketing and people are suffering everywhere.

She said "punishing the people of the world while trying to punish one country is tantamount to human rights violation. This is why I think it is imperative that the US step away from this. I think everybody will want this."

DHAKA, 09 July 2022, (TON): The Bangabandhu Bridge has set a new record in the amount of toll collected from vehicles in 24 hours.

According to the sources of Bangabandhu Bridge, a total 43,595 vehicles crossed the bridge from yesterday morning to this morning. Over Tk 3.4 crore has been been collected from both toll plazas during this period, setting a new record.

Ahsan Masud Bappy, an executive engineer of the site office of the Bangladesh Bridge Authority, confirmed the development to our Tangail correspondent.

The toll plaza had collected Tk 3.19 crore from 44,274 vehicles on April 29 before the last Eid-ul Fitr.

Executive engineer Bappy further said “the toll collection on the bridge in the last 24 hours has also broken all previous records.”