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Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as Finance Minister of the debt-ridden country on May 25 by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, an official statement said, The Hindu reported.

Mr. Wickremesinghe, 73 was sworn in as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stability and National Policies.

The five-time Prime Minister was re-appointed to the job on May 12 following the political circus precipitated by the unprecedented economic crisis in the island’s history. He replaced Mahinda Rajapaksa who resigned to make way for his brother’s plan to appoint an all-party interim government to handle the economic crisis.

Mr. Wickremesinghe’s office said during the two weeks he had been at the helm. He re-established the island’s foreign relations, took steps for constitutional reform with the draft of the 21 amendments to the constitution, ensured fuel supplies and has been making preparations for an interim budget, according to The Hindu.

Mr. Wickremesinghe with just his seat in the 225-member Assembly relies on all political parties to support him in his immediate task of reviving the ailing economy. Sri Lanka declared bankruptcy in mid-April saying it was unable to meet its international debt payments this year. 

President Rajapaksa on May 20 expanded the Cabinet to include nine Ministers, but did not appoint a Finance Minister. Ministers of a few portfolios including education, ports and shipping, health, justice, trade were sworn in. For the second time, on May 23, Mr. Rajapaksa expanded the Cabinet by inducting eight more Ministers but even this time he did not appoint a Finance Minister. The new Ministers inducted during the second time of the Cabinet expansion belong to the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and its allies — the SLFP and the EPDP, a Tamil minority party in the north, The Hindu reported.

Independent candidate Balen Shah and CPN-UML candidate Sunitia Dangol are all set to become the new mayor and deputy mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

Shah will replace Bidya Subdar Shakya while Dangol will replace Hari Prabha Khadgi.

Though the voting counting is still underway in some wards of the metropolitan city, Shah and Dangol have ensured their victory for the post of mayor and deputy mayor respectively.

Shah has received 59, 149 votes against his closest contender Srijana Singh of Nepali Congress is trailing with 37, 542 votes. He is leading by 21, 607 votes.

CPN-UML candidate Keshav Sthapit is third with 37, 218 votes.

Dangol has garnered over 64, 000 votes in the deputy mayoral race.

Rameshwar Shrestha of CPN (Unified Socialist) is lagging far behind.

CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli expressed his dissatisfaction for allowing  Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights and US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Uzra Zeya to visit to Tibetan refugee camp in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur.

Speaking at the Parliament meeting held at the Parliament building on Wednesday, the former prime minister objected to the US Under Secretary of State's visit to the refugee camp in coordination with the state against the established values of the foreign policy.

"It is highly objectionable to allow the US Under Secretary of State to visit the Tibetan refugee camp in Nepal," lawmaker Bhim Rawal said as Oli saying.

According to party Chief Whip Bishal Bhattarai, Oli accused the government of trying to deviate from one-China policy.

In the meeting, Rawal demanded that a protest proposal should be endorsed against the US Under Secretary of State's meeting with Tibetan refugee leaders.

Also Read: US engagement with Nepal’s Tibetan refugees infuriating China

Rawal said that the party Chairman will raise the issue in the Parliament meeting tomorrow.

UML lawmaker Deepak Prakash Bhatta said that Oli expressed his dissatisfaction after the US Under Secretary of State was taken to the refugee camp with escorting by embracing the imbalanced foreign policy.

Earlier, some political leaders, ex-diplomats, and bureaucrats criticized the government for allowing her to see Tibetan refugees, saying that it violated Nepal’s One-China policy.

On May 21, US Under-Secretary of State for Civilian Security Zeya visited the Tibetan refugee camp in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur. Later that day she also went to Kathmandu’s Boudha, home to a large number of Tibetan refugees. 
 

The 14^th meeting of the Nepal-China Diplomatic Consultation Mechanism was held virtually on May 15.

Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal and Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China His Wu Jianghao led their respective delegations to the meeting. 

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two sides took stock of Nepal-China relations and exchanged views on further promoting bilateral relations and cooperation for mutual benefit. 

During the meeting, the two sides underscored the importance of the exchange of high-level visits and stressed the need for timely implementation of the agreements and understandings reached between the two countries, reads the statement. 

Both sides agreed to promote cooperation in various sectors including trade, transit, connectivity, investment, health, tourism, poverty alleviation, disaster management, education, culture, and people-to-people exchanges, among others.

Foreign Secretary Paudyal thanked the Chinese Government for the generous support of life-saving vaccines and medical supplies to Nepal during the difficult time of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Assistant Minister Wu assured the Foreign Secretary of China’s support for the improvement of health infrastructures as well as for the capacity building of medical personnel of Nepal. 

The two sides also agreed to activate bilateral mechanisms to enhance cooperation and partnership in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. They also emphasized the need for timely completion of China-assisted projects, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

 Paudyal thanked the Chinese side for their decision to resume the regular passenger flights between the two countries in Kathmandu-Kunming and Kathmandu-Chengdu sectors. He also thanked the Chinese side for the preparation of the return of Nepali students to China and requested to facilitate the return of Nepali business people and their families to China.

Both sides underlined the need to enhance the level of support for improving the livelihood of people residing in bordering districts in the Northern Himalayan region of Nepal.

They also exchanged views on continuing cooperation in various regional and multilateral forums on matters of mutual interests.