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11 December 2012 15:19 | Tehran Times
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TEHRAN - Sri Lankan Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad
Bathiyutheen has expressed willingness to start barter trade with Iran.
On Tuesday, the Sri Lankan
official met with Iranian Industry, Mine, and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari
in Tehran, discussing ways to diversify and expand industrial and trade ties,
IRNA reported.
Ghazanfari said that the value of
bilateral trade stands at $1.6 billion annually (including oil trade).
Bathiyutheen, for his part,
welcomed Iranian investment in his country, and proposed bartering as a means
to give a boost to the two-way trade.
U.S. sanctions against Iran had
compelled Sri Lanka to pay an additional sum of $1.2 billion for the import
of crude oil and refined oil, Sri Lankan Petroleum Minister Susil Premjayanth
said in October.
The Minister said that the
country’s oil bill had reached $5 billion by now.
The government had made
arrangements to purchase crude from Saudi Arabia and other oil producing
nations and orders had been placed for 135,000 million tons of light crude
and another 80,000 million tons in the open market.
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Sri Lanka proposes barter trade with Iran
Japanese biz house plans clean energy from Lanka’s staple food
Wed, 2012-12-12 01:17 — editor
Sri Lanka’s rice industry, which has earned an
international reputation as one of the few producers of some best red rice
varieties in the world, is set get a fresh boost when a top Japanese biz house
moves in to utilize ‘rice husks’ for clean energy production in large scale.
Rice Husk Briquettes, the low cost clean, bio-mass
energy source used internationally, is now set to enter Sri Lanka’s industrial
landscape, and even domestic use when MTI Japan begins its project in Sri
Lanka.
“Husk bricks are an internationally used energy source
well known for their environment friendliness and low cost, often almost freely
sourced. For example, their costs savings are more than 20% in comparison to
coal, and three-to four times energy output as firewood” revealed Teppei
Tanigawa, the President/CEO of Hyogo, Kobe based MTI Japan Co Ltd on 23
November.
Tanigawa was addressing Rishad Bathiudeen (Minister of
Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka) on 23 November at the Ministry of Industry
and Commerce, Colombo when he called upon Minister Bathiudeen with his high
level three-member team from Tanigawa’s Kobe city (Hyogo sector) based MTI
Japan Co Ltd is a business house involved in diverse ventures including trading,
manufacturing and advanced technology in Japan and abroad. Specially, MTI’s
cutting-edge technology is known for state-of-the-art advanced sensing &
sensor tech, autonomous support systems, artificial intelligence (AI), and even
robot control technology, among others. Interestingly, MTI has a strong
interest on ‘technology for SMEs’ and also ‘clean energy.’
“Just 2 kilos of husk bricks can give energy
equivalent of one litre of kerosene when used domestically. Rice husk bricks
are widely used in Japan for house heating specially in winter. As a result, we
know how efficient it is for industry usage. We are studying many ways of
producing the bricks in Sri Lanka, including a mobile production unit which can
assist to give tech transfer to Sri Lanka’s rice industry” Tanigawa stressed
and added: “In other words, you don’t need to bring the paddy husks to us, but
we can come to the rural doorstep and on our way back from the farmers home, we
can create bricks and the completed bricks are ready to be fed to the burner
promptly. We are also planning to set up more than 100 husk grinding mills
across the country in proximity to paddy areas. The good news is that we have
already introduced this novel mobile compressing technology to Kenya with good
results. From Kenya, we are planning to expand to the rest of the huge African
market where not only rice husks, but even peanut husks could be used in large
quantities.”
“We welcome and thank MTI Japan for choosing Sri Lanka
for its next international venture” said Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of
Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka, addressing CEO Tanigawa. “Biomass energy
from such a low cost source is a welcome boost for our industrial sector
productivity since it will support our energy efficiency initiatives. I have
been given to understand that MTI Japan, in addition to be in technology, also
is strong in SME sectors, which is the backbone of Sri Lanka’s economy. As a
result, I see strong synergies between MTI Corp and us” Minister Bathiudeen
stressed.
- Asian Tribune -
Sri Lankans hearing message - Aussie FM; Six Lankans abandon asylum claims to return home
December 13,
2012 08:48 am | Ada Derana
Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr leaves on
Thursday for visits to Dili and Colombo, and says Sri Lankans are getting the
message that economic migrants will be sent home.
Carr says Sri Lankans are getting the message
that economic migrants who arrive in Australian waters will be swiftly sent
home.
“Every time we send a plane load back, a message
goes out to the villages of Sri Lanka,” he told Sky News on Thursday.
“You can pay what is, in Sri Lankan terms, a fortune
to a people smuggler, but you will only be sent back, you won’t get to make it
to a new life in Australia.”
More than 600 Sri Lankans asylum seekers have
been returned involuntary since September.
“Sure that has cost a bit of money, but it has
asserted Australian sovereignty and Australian control of irregular
immigration,” Senator Carr said.
The foreign minister leaves Australia on
Thursday for visits to East Timor and Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile another group of Sri Lankan
asylum-seekers decided to return home rather than wait to have their claims
processed on Nauru.
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship
confirmed six more Sri Lankan men returned home voluntarily on Thursday.
Five of the men were transferred from Nauru to the
Australian mainland before departing Perth for Colombo on a commercial flight.
They were joined by another Sri Lankan man who had been detained in Western
Australia.
It follows the voluntary return of eight Sri Lankans
at the weekend, five from Christmas Island on Saturday and three from Perth on
Sunday, and brings to 767 the number of Sri Lankans who have returned home -
both voluntarily and involuntarily - since August 13 when the government announced
it was reopening processing facilities on Nauru and Manus Island.
A department spokesman said transfers of boat arrivals
to Nauru have continued and more would follow in coming weeks.
“Regular transfers to Nauru and more Sri Lankans
returning home is further proof there is no advantage engaging with people
smugglers,” the spokesman said, Australian media reports.
Sri Lankan lawyers go on strike over CJ’s impeachment process
| Colombo, December 12, 2012| The Hindu
Sri Lankan Human Rights lawyer Chrishantha Weliamuna(second
from right in front) with representatives of various lawyers associations
supporting Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. Photo:AP
Lawyers across Sri Lanka went on strike on Wednesday
protesting the impeachment motion against the island nation’s first woman Chief
Justice, bringing the judiciary to halt.
The protesters were seen clashing with pro-government
protesters who called for the resignation of Ms Bandaranayake staging counter
demonstrations in support of the impeachment
“We have come out today to protest in the branch association
across the country on the single theme, ‘let’s protect the independence of the
judiciary’”, Wijayadasa Rajapaksha, the head Bar Association of Sri Lanka
(BASL) said.
Mr Rajapaksha said the BASL committee had resolved to
condemn the procedure adopted and the findings of the parliamentary select
committee on the impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.
The parliamentary panel last week announced that Ms
Bandaranayake has been found guilty of three of the 14 charges slapped against
her by the government.
The protesting lawyers said that some of the court’s
functioning was crippled in many provincial areas throughout today and is
likely to remain so tomorrow.
Bandaranayake, 54 awaits removal from the position early
January after parliament holds a vote on the recommendations of the
parliamentary select committee submitted last week.
The report was released after Ms Bandaranayake and her lawyers
walked out of the proceedings calling it unfair.
Following concerns raised internationally, President Mahinda
Rajapaksa, on Tuesday, said he would appoint an independent panel to seek its
views on the select committee report prior to acting on them.
However, the lawyers rejected the President’s offer.
“The President’s statement that he would appoint an
independent panel to review the report is an admission by the President that it
was an unlawful process and that the report is flawed. Therefore the said
Report must be withdrawn immediately. Any future inquiry must take place only
after a fair procedure and tribunal are lawfully introduced. Until then the
agitation of the Bar will continue”, a lawyer’s union statement said.
Sri Lanka lawyers boycott courts over chief justice impeachment
By Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez
Thursday, December 13, 2012
COLOMBO
(Reuters) - Sri Lankan lawyers boycotted courts on Wednesday, crippling the
judicial system in protest at what they call unfair impeachment moves against
the chief justice.
A
parliamentary panel found the first woman to lead Sri Lanka's Supreme Court,
Shirani Bandaranayake, guilty last week of financial irregularities and failing
to declare her assets.
The
United States, United Nations and Commonwealth have raised concerns about the
process -- which could see parliament voting next month on whether to sack her
-- and have called on the government to ensure the independence of the judiciary.
"Lawyers
are staging a protest today in protest that the chief justice had not got an
impartial, just and fair trial," said Wijedasa Rajapaksa, an opposition
legislator and the president of the lawyers' Bar Association.
Hundreds
of lawyers in official uniform marched in different parts of the island nation.
Some
carried placards reading "hands off from judiciary" and "today
judiciary, tomorrow?", while others put up posters warning of the risks
from what they called an unfair trial.
Impeachment
moves began after Bandaranayake ruled against a bill proposing a budget of 80
billion rupees (380 million pounds) for development, saying it had to be
approved by nine provincial councils.
The
ruling angered some of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's backers, who accused the
judiciary of overstepping its authority, while Bandaranayake's supporters
complained of political interference.
The
ruling party filed a motion against Bandaranayake last month.
Parliament
is expected to vote on the panel's finding in January. The president, whose
party has more than two thirds of the 225 seats, needs just a plain majority to
remove her from her post.
Saliya
Pieris, a lawyer who represented her at the panel, issued a statement on behalf
of the chief justice saying she could have proven her innocence but had not
been allowed to cross-examine witnesses.
Parliament
speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, the president's brother, appointed the panel, seven
of whose 11 members were from the ruling party, to investigate 14 charges
against Bandaranayake. On Friday she was found guilty on three of the first
five charges.
The
four opposition members on the panel quit on Friday, before its ruling, citing
injustice, and the entire opposition party left the parliamentary chamber en
masse. A day earlier Bandaranayake withdrew from the proceedings.
Lawyers
and rights groups have challenged the legality of the select committee in the
courts.
Diplomats
who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said the impeachment process was
without due process or transparency.
"This
gives the effect that the executive can do anything in the supreme court using
its parliamentary two-thirds majority," one diplomat from a European
country said.
"We
don't have any problem with removing the chief justice. But we are concerned on
the process."
(Writing
by Shihar Aneez, edited by Richard Meares)
Copyright © 2012 Reuters
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