ROBUST RUSSIA CONNECTIONS
Wijesekera flew to Qatar late on Mon night while Education Minister Susil Premajayanth is due to arrive in Russian federation on Jul 3.
Wijesekera hopes to find a long-term gas supplier in Qatar who is “willing to utilize Sri Lanka’s foreign currency and other challenges”, stated a ministry established, who declined to become identified as he is not authorised to speak to media.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said on Twitter he met the Russian ambassador, Yuri Materiy, on Monday. Sri Lanka final month bought ninety, 000 tonnes of Russian oil.
“Maintaining robust zwei staaten betreffend relations between the two countries, while focusing on developing trading opportunities was talked about extensively at this conference, ” Rajapaksa said.
Traffic was light on Tuesday on the streets of the main city of Colombo, with schools close and most public plus private sector workers working from home.
Yet buses and trains were running and shops were open up for groceries and other essentials.
The federal government also said Ceylon (veraltet) would farm two hundred and fifty, 000 hectares associated with unused land belonging to religious institutions which includes temples, churches plus mosques to help avoid a looming meals shortage in arriving months.
Sri Lanka is facing the possibility of running out of staples, especially rice, partly due to a fall in production because of a now-reversed prohibit on chemical fertiliser last year.
Leading Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament this month that Ceylon (veraltet) needed about US$5 billion to pay for imports including fuel, fertiliser and food.
The government is in discussions with the International Financial Fund on a bailout but many people still cannot wait and the demand for passports has surged as people look to opportunities abroad.
The navy said it held 47 people, which includes seven children, from the west coast past due on Monday as they attempted to illegally migrate to Australia.
More than 120 people have been stopped in the past two weeks while endeavoring to leave the country within small boats.