MOFCOM Scholarship Programs 2021, China

The Economic and Commercial office of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China is pleased to announce that the

MOFCOM Scholarship Programs 2021 has invited applications for Masters and Doctoral programs.

The online application deadline for the program has been extended to 03 December 2021

 and submit the documents to ERD on or before 30 November 2021

Click for More details 

The Government of Sri Lanka and the China Development Bank entered into an agreement on 18 March 2020 for a financing facility of USD 500 million, at the Temple Trees, signed by Mr.S.R.Attygalle, Secretary to the Treasury on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka and Mr. Wang Wei, Deputy Director-General, China Development Bank on behalf of the China Development Bank, witnessed by the Hon. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Chargé d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy Mr. Hu Wei, and Vice President of CDB Mr. Ma Xin.

The facility has been made available, on a request made by the Government of Sri Lanka to the Chinese Government and the China Development Bank to support the country’s development efforts.

It is noted that although this Foreign Currency Term Financing Facility (FTFF) 2020, is an upsizing of the FTFF 2018, the terms of this facility is an improvement over 2018. This includes the extension of the maturity to 10 years from 8 years in the FTFF 2018, with a grace period of 3 years. The interest rate is an improvement over 2018, with the margins over 6months LIBOR being less than that of 2018. The USD 500 million will be disbursed, early next week and will also bolster the official foreign reserves of the country.

Issued by the Department of External Resources, Ministry of Finance, Economy and Policy Development on 18^th March 2020.

The British High Commission notifies that the opening of the application period for the UK Government's flagship scholarship Programme, Chevening, is from 3rd August to  2nd November 2021. 

The Chevening Scholarship offers a unique opportunity for future leaders and decision-makers globally to develop professionally and academically, network extensively, and build a lasting positive relationship with the UK. The Scholarship provides full funding to study for a one-year Masters at a reputed UK university in any subject. 

The objective of the programme is to support future leaders in developing their talents to benefit their home country with knowledge, networks, and skills upon their return to their home countries. 

More information on the scholarship programme is available at https://www.chevening.org  & click here for more details.  

Modernization of the railway operations has been recognized as the need of the time to cater to the increasing demand of the Railway sector. Accordingly, Railway Master Plan was prepared under the Technical Assistance of Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The interest of all stakeholders were focused to Kelani Valley Line development due to the prevailing high passenger demand and existing traffic congestions in Malabe, Horana and Awissawella corridors. Accordingly the feasibility study in kelani valley line was carried out under the ADB funded Transport Project Preparatory Technical Assistance Loan and by studying different options, constructing elevated double track from Maradana upto Malapalla (southern expressway interchange) was decided as the best economical solution which would support the planned urban development in the areas.

In view of that, an inspection visit by the higher officials of the Treasury led be Director General of External Resources Department has been carried out to the proposed kelani valley line development site, which will start implementation under ADB financing by year 2021. During the visit, the officers were able to see the heavily encroached railway reservations in the project area by unauthorized settlers, which are about 4000 families and the progress of the proposed Resettlement Plan for them, entrusted by the United Nations Human Resettlement Program.

During the visit, the project officials explained the plans to elevate the railway section from Maradana to Malapalla, in order to evade the problem of around 54 level crossings and land acquisitions. Further, they demonstrated that how the project has been planned to generate reasonable revenue through land value capturing and transit oriented development using the space under the structure and railway land around the elevated construction.

The visit ended at the Makumbura Multi Model Transport Hub which facilitate the Kelani Valley train passengers with a user friendly convenient multi model transport facilities.