New Zealand PM tags Lanka as ‘Shining Light of Asian Region

Indian Ocean policy makers and scientists are meeting in Sri Lanka to evaluate whale and dolphin watching practices and develop rules to improve marine tourism, an industry which generates more earnings than aquaculture and fisheries worldwide.

Master dairy trainers will be schooled by local experts as part of two projects aimed at boosting New Zealand’s involvement in Sri Lanka’s dairy industry.

Mr Key also welcomed the signing of an agreement between Auckland Zoo and the Sri Lankan Government which will see the zoo gifted a second elephant.

Auckland Zoo says it is “delighted” to accept the gift of a Sri Lankan baby elephant, but the move has left animal rights activists outraged.

Prime Minister John Key waves next to Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at his welcome ceremony.

The recent announcement gains importance in view of the ongoing competition between India and China in terms of “expanding presence” in Sri Lanka and also when Sri Lanka is already under FTA negotiations with other Asian nations.

“We are very disappointed”, Sagarika Rajakarunanayake, head of the Sathva Mithra (Friends of Animals) group, told AFP.

Nandi is now at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. “I think they don’t even read our letters”.

“Our hope is that all three elephants will be compatible and Nandi to flourish here as Anjalee has”, she said.

Delivering a media statement after conclusion of bilateral discussions with President Maithripala Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (February 24), he said that he first visited Sri Lanka in 2013 for the Commonwealth Summit and in the current visit he personally noticed the vast transformations taken place in the country.

· An extension to the Wanni Dairy Regeneration Activity, which helps post-conflict communities in northern Sri Lanka to generate a sustainable agricultural income.