President Ranil Wickremesinghe held discussions on debt management with the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva, Finance Minister of Ghana Ken Ofori-Atta and Speaker of the People’s Majlis of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed on the sidelines of COP27.

Senior Advisor to the President on Climate Change Mr. Ruwan Wijewardene also participated at this discussion.

The Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) has disclosed that there is no proper regulatory system to control the price of vegetable seeds in this country.

This was disclosed when the Committee on Public Accounts met in Parliament yesterday (08) under the chairmanship of MP Kabir Hashim. A discussion was held on the performance of the process of producing vegetable seeds locally and several parties including the Ministry of Agriculture were therefore present.

It was also discussed that although the “State Policy on Seed and Planting Material Industry” was prepared in 1997, it was not published in the Gazette as at January 01st, 2021. Furthermore, regarding the Seed Act No. 22 of 2003, there was a discussion at length and attention was drawn to the fact that the necessary amendments had not been made. Thus, it was disclosed that there are several institutions in the private sector that are allowed to import seeds and that this Act does not include a system to control the price of seeds imported by those institutions.

Thus, the members of the committee who were present pointed out that this is a very serious situation. The Members of Parliament pointed out that the domestic vegetable farmer is in a lot of trouble as a result and that this is a mafia. Therefore, they pointed out that a system should be prepared to control this situation and that a system should be created to enable the domestic vegetable farmer to buy vegetable seeds at an affordable price.

COPA Committee also pointed out that the percentage of providing locally produced vegetable seeds to the domestic vegetable farmer is not satisfactory. In response, the officials present mentioned that government departments including the Department of Agriculture are working to produce more of the required local vegetable seeds and provide them at a subsidized price, but even so, it is not possible to produce certain seeds under certain climatic conditions and therefore such seeds are being imported. Therefore, few private institutions have been allowed to import such seeds.

Also, the officials pointed out that even hybrid seeds that are difficult to produce are being produced using technology. The officials also pointed out that it takes about 10 years to carry out the research needed to produce certain seeds.

Thus, Chairman of the COPA Committee – Kabir Hashim instructed to finally provide a report on obstacles to seed production, a report on obstacles to recruitment, a report containing 3 years of information on the percentage of locally produced seeds and the percentage of imported seeds as per seed demand as well as a report on how seed prices can be controlled through the regulation of the relevant Act and Policy within two weeks.

State Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Mohan Priyadarshana De Silva, Diana Gamage and Members of Parliament -Tissa Attanayake, Niroshan Perera, Ashok Abeysinghe, Buddhika Pathirana, (Dr.) Sudarshini Fernandopulle, J. C. Alawathuwala, Hector Appuhamy, (Dr.) Major Pradeep Undugoda and Wasantha Yapabandara were present at this Committee meeting held.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says they are continuing to monitor the progress of the passengers of Sri Lankan origin who were rescued and bought to the Port of Vung Tau in Viet Nam on 08 November 2022.

A statement issued by the MFA says :

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Sri Lanka Navy that they had received information about a vessel carrying approximately 303 persons believed to be Sri Lankans which was in distress in the waters between the Philippines and Viet Nam on 07 November 2022. The Sri Lanka Navy having contacted the vessel, informed that the crew had abandoned the vessel with the passengers onboard.

On the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in coordination with the Sri Lanka Navy and the Sri Lanka Missions in the Philippines, Singapore and Viet Nam together with the regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centers (MRCC) based in Singapore, the rescue efforts were coordinated.

Subsequently, the Japanese-flagged vessel, “Helios Leader”, having been contacted by the Singapore MRCC, rescued the passengers from the distressed vessel. The passengers were handed over to Viet Nam authorities at Vung Tau Port in South Viet Nam.

The screening of the passengers will be done by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in coordination with the Viet Nam authorities and the Sri Lanka Embassy in Viet Nam.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to work closely with the Sri Lanka Missions in the Philippines, Singapore, Viet Nam and IOM for early repatriation, once the screening process to ascertain their nationality and other formalities are completed.

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