In his inaugural address at the Indian Ocean Conference in Dhaka on May 12, the Indian External Affairs Minister D.S.Jaishankar pointed out that the “Indo-Pacific is a reality and becoming more so with each passing day.”
“It is a statement...
The Indian Foreign Minister, Dr.S.Jaishankar, made eight points in his keynote speech at the inaugural session of the 6th Indian Ocean Conference in Bangladesh.
The Conference’s focus on peace, prosperity and partnership for a resilient future is apt for current...
The Asia for Animals Coalition (AFA) which is a network of local, national and international animal protection and conservation organizations with a particular focus on Asian animal advocacy and the Macaque Coalition (MACC) have condemned the widely-reported proposal to...
In a comprehensive but controversial paper on the troubled Sino-Indian relationship, Chinese scholar Dr. Cuiping Zhu says that there can be a Sino-Indian détente only if India accepts China’s viewpoint on a range of issues, including the border/territorial dispute...
The election of Hamza Yousaf as the First Minister (Chief Minister) of Scotland a few days ago, marked a significant transformation of the British Isles and their relations with South Asia.
In colonial times, Whites from the British Isles ruled...
While there is a strong move on the part of the US, Japan and Australia to see the Indo-Pacific region as an integral unit, the countries included in the region have different notions of what constitutes their region. They...
Civic rights in Sri Lanka were “obstructed” from 2018 to 2022, says CIVICUS Monitor, which rates and tracks the state of civic freedoms in various countries and territories. (see: https://monitor.civicus.org/explore/authorities-continue-crack-down-protests-and-detain-online-critics-sri-lanka-despite-un-human-rights-review/).
CIVICUS Monitor classifies countries as ‘closed’, ‘repressed’, ‘obstructed’, ‘narrowed’ and...
The Freedom of the World Report 2023 has downgraded Sri Lanka in terms of democratic hallmarks. Sri Lanka has been termed “Partly Free” as it was a year ago.
As per the 2023 report, Sri Lanka has got an overall...
Being an island-State, Sri Lanka has whole-heartedly welcomed the historic March 4 UN agreement to protect Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. Also known as the BBNJ, it is expected to enhance the international legal regime for the...
Besides trade, Buddhism played a major role in the creation of ties between India and China in ancient times. These religious ties were established in the First Millennium of the Common Era (CE or AD). But they weakened gradually,...
Sri Lanka is at a critical moment in its history. Years of economic mismanagement, weak governance, poor policy choices, and the impacts of external shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, plunged the country...
Natural endowments and the strategic value of Trincomalee port have been well-known for long. Yet, to date, nothing concrete has been done to develop and use it. There has been no dearth of reports and plans. But except for...
