December 2003 |
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The latest issue of the “South Asia Economic
Journal” released.
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The latest issue of the South Asia
Economic Journal (SAEJ) focuses on the Financial Sector
in India.
SAEJ is a bi-annual publication jointly managed
by the Institute of Policy Studies, Sri Lanka and Research and
Information System for the Non-aligned and Other Developing
Countries, India.
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Equitap Project Third Workshop in Hong
Kong
Hong Kong University, Hong Kong SAR, China,
14-16 December, 2003
The Equitap
Project collaborators held a successful Third Workshop in
Hong Kong. The Equitap collaborative study is a joint research
project involving researchers from 15 Asia-Pacific territories
and two European collaborating institutions, which is coordinated
by IPS HPP. Dr. Ravi Rannan-Eliya and Ms. Aparnaa Somanathan
represented IPS at the meeting, together with representatives
from partner teams from 14 other Asia-Pacific territories plus
representatives from Erasmus University (The Netherlands), London
School of Economics (UK), and WHO Western Pacific and South
East Asia regional offices participated in three days of intense
discussion to review progress in their collaborative study,
and to plan out the work agenda for the remaining year of the
project, funded by European Union. The workshop was hosted by
the Department of Community Medicine of Hong Kong University,
and consisted of a mix of plenary discussions, parallel work-groups
and technical help sessions. The Equitap project is examining
equity in national health systems in Asia, focusing on equity
in financing, distribution of services and health status, and
policy frameworks for equity.
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Sri Lanka State of the Economy Report: 2003 launched |
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The “Sri Lanka State of the Economy
Report: 2003”—the annual publication put
out by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) was launched when
Dr. Saman Kelegama —Executive Director of IPS—officially
handed over a copy of the report to Dr. Gamani Corea,
Chairman, IPS at the Institute’s premises on 3 December,
2003.
The report provides a comprehensive and an
analytical overview of the country’s economy.
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The main focus of the report 2003 is on the textile and garment
sector and provides discussions on the challenges and prospects
for Sri Lanka in the post 2004 – quota free era
The “Sri Lanka State
of the Economy Report, 2003” is available for
purchase from the Publications Unit of the IPS and leading book
stores, island wide.
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Executive Director of the IPS,
Dr. Saman Kelegama handing over the first copy of the
Report to the Chairman of the Institute, Dr. Gamani Corea.
Also in the picture are the Directors of the IPS Governing Board
– L to R: Dr. Godfrey Gunatilleke, Vice Chairman,
Marga Institute, Prof. B. Hewavitharana, Emeritus Professor
of Economics, University of Peradeniya, A.S. Jayawardena,
Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and Dr. P Alailima,
Director - General, National Planning Department.
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October 2003
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The report on the India-Sri Lanka
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)
was formally presented to the Prime Ministers of the two countries
by the co- chairmen of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Study Group
(JSG) on 20 October.
The presentation was made during an official
visit to India by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Hon. Ranil Wickeramasinghe.
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CEPA was concluded on the recommendations made by the JSG on
the India Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement on how to take the
two economies beyond trade in goods towards greater integration
in services and investment, and to revitalize the bilateral
economic relations between the two countries. The report put
forth strategies and proposals for the successful implementation
of the CEPA.
The report on CEPA was prepared
by the JSG co chaired by India’s Dr. Rakesh Mohan and
Sri Lanka’s Mr. Ken Balendra. Dr. Saman Kelegama, Executive
Director, IPS, played a key role in the formulation of the report
as a member of the JSG.
Click below to download the Joint Study Group
Report on India-Sri Lanka Comprehensive Economic Partnership
Agreement in PDF or ZIP format.
PDF format (1.8
MB)  ZIP
format (1.3
MB)
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Colombo, 14th October
Dr. Ravi Rannan-Eliya and Mr.
Ajantha Kalyanarathne participated in the 5th Meeting of the
National
Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, held at the Hotel
Ceylon Continental, Colombo. The Commission members who participated
included Co-Chair, Minister of Health, Hon. P. Dayaratne, Secretary
to Ministry of Health, Nutrition & Welfare Dr. Reggie Perera,
Governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Mr. A.S. Jayawardena,
and WHO Representative to Sri Lanka Dr. Kan Tun. The Commission
welcomed the participation of Mr. B.S. Lamba, Advisor, Health
Development, WHO/SEARO in its proceedings. Mr Lamba noted that
Sri Lanka's Commission on Macroeconomics and Health had progressed
the furthest in its work in all the countries of the WHO South-East
Asia region. Dr. Rannan-Eliya, a member of the Commission updated
those present on the progress of the IPS evaluation study of
fiscal incentives for health, which is being undertaken by a
team comprising of Mr. Ajantha Kalyanarathne and Ms. Nirosha
Gaminaratne.
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The Indian Ocean Rim Academic Group holds its annual
meeting in Colombo
The annual meeting of the Indian
Ocean Rim Academic Group (IORAG), which is a part of
the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation
(IOR-ARC) was held on 7 October 2003 at the Hotel
Taj Samudra, Colombo. Dr. Saman Kelegama, Executive Director
of the Institute of Policy Studies took over the chairmanship
of the IORAG from Dr. Fahim Al-Marhubi of Oman. The
meeting provided the opportunity for academics from all member
countries to gather and discuss the progress of various projects
undertaken by the IORAG at previous meetings.
Dr. Kelegama reiterated the need
of the delegates to concentrate on completing the projects at
hand before undertaking any new projects and concurred with
the view expressed by the former Chairman and the Secretary
General of IOR-ARC that a realistic attitude should
be taken on projects that have been on the agenda which are
yet to be completed.
The delegates expressed their
support for several major projects, specially the University
Mobility in the Indian Ocean Region (UMIOR) programme
and the Chair and Associate Fellows of Indian Ocean Studies
as having great potential. The delegates also agreed to make
a recommendation to the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO)
that an IORAG Seminar should occur before the main
IORAG meeting in order for the group to effectively
play their role as the policy making body of the Association.
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Regional Workshop on “Trade Policies in South
Asia”,
World Trade Centre, Colombo, 2-3 October.
The Executive Director, Dr.
Saman Kelegama in his welcome address said that the principal
objective of the workshop was to discuss the recently completed
World Bank report entitled “Trade Policies in
South Asia: An Overview” with experts from all
South Asian countries so that their comments and suggestions
could be taken into account in the final revision of the report.
The report reviews the region’s
trade regimes in South Asia covering primarily Pakistan,
India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Hon. Ravi Karunanayake, in his
address at the inaugural session said that the publication of
this report will be timely in the context of global developments
in the area of international trade and policy challenges for
South Asian countries.
The Colombo workshop is part of
a series of workshops which will take place in other South Asian
countries. Similar events are also scheduled for Dhaka and India
this month.
Workshop
in Pictures >>
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September 2003
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Colombo, 17 September
Ravi Rannan-Eliya presented the findings of
the ILO-sponsored IPS Diagnostic Assessment Study of
Social Security in Sri Lanka to the trade union, employer
and government representatives attending the National Labour
Advisory Council meeting held at the Ministry of Employment
and Labour. The study was conducted by a team consisting of
Nirosha Gaminaratne, Ajantha Kalyanarathne and Ravi Rannan-Eliya.
Download the presentation made by Ravi Rannan-Eliya (PDF
format )
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The Executive Director, Dr. Saman
Kelegama delivered the Inaugural address on “WTO and
South Asia: From Doha to Cancun” at the National Law
and Economy Conference : “Multilateral Framework on
Trade and Competition: Sri Lanka’s Position at the WTO Cancun
Meeting” Hotel Trans Asia, Colombo,
1 September .
Download
the executive director’s speech (Microsoft
Word Format - 62.5 KB)
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August 2003
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IPS HPP presents findings of ILO-sponsored
Diagnostic Assessment of Social Security in Sri Lanka to tripartite
audience, Hotel Galadari, Colombo, 21 August
Ravi Rannan-Eliya presented the
findings of the IPS study of social security in Sri Lanka, at
the ILO Seminar on"Diagnostic Study of Social Security
Situation in Sri Lanka". The study was conducted by
a team consisting of Nirosha Gaminaratne, Ajantha Kalyanarathne
and Ravi Rannan-Eliya.
Download
the presentation made by Ravi Rannan-Eliya (PDF format -
675 KB)
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June 2003
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IPS HPP conference poster wins prize
at iHEA San Francisco Conference,
Hilton, San Francisco,U.S.A., 18 June
At the Fourth World Congress of the International
Health Economics Association (iHEA), Dr Ravi P. Rannan-Eliya
(Associate Fellow of IPS), Niluki Rodrigo and Toshio Kimura
were awarded an "Honorable Mention" for their
poster "Analysis of the accuracy of WHO's country rankings
for fairness in financing using Monte Carlo simulation".
This placed their poster in the top five of 153 posters submitted
to the conference's poster competition. The poster presents
results of their analysis of the WHO estimates of fairness in
financing published in the WHO World Health Report 2000. Niluki
Rodrigo and Toshio Kimura were summer interns at IPS during
2001.
 Download
the poster (GIF Format - 657 KB)
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WHO NHA Producers Guide
launched in San Francisco
San Francisco, U.S.A., 14 June
At a symposium sponsored by PHRplus
and Swedish
International Development Agency (SIDA), representatives
of the World Health Organisation, World Bank and USAID launched
a new publication designed to assist developing country experts
design and develop national health accounts systems. The
"Guide to producing national health accounts: With special
applications for low-income and middle-income countries"
was the product of an international team of authors and technical
experts, including Dr. Ravi P. Rannan-Eliya of the Institute
of Policy Studies, who drafted several of the chapters in the
book. The publication includes numerous examples taken from
the Sri Lanka National Health Accounts system, which was designed
and is maintained for Sri Lanka's Ministry of Health by the
IPS Health Policy Programme.
WHO
NHA Producers Guide (PDF format - Large download
- 22 MB )
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May 2003
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The Executive Director
delivered a lecture at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Symposium
at the time of the visit of the delegation from the Confederation
of Indian Industries.
Colombo Plaza, 28 May
This paper was subsequently published
in the Economic and Political Weekly, 26 July-1 August
2003 issue.
Download the paper (Microsoft Word Format - 62.5 KB)
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April 2003
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The ESCAP Economic and
Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2003 was launched by Dr.
Dushni Weerakoon.
23 April
The Economic and Social Survey
of Asia and the Pacific 2003 of the United Nations Economic
Commission for South Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) was launched
in Colombo.
http://www.dailymirror.lk/2003/04/24/ft/1.html
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March
2003 |
28 March
Aparnaa Somanathan represented
the Equitap project at the DFID workshop on asset indices in
London, U.K. and made a presentation describing “Alternative
Measures of Socio-Economic status used in the Equitap project,
their pros and cons etc.,”, 26-28 March.
17 March.
The Executive Director
made a presentation on “Regaining Sri Lanka
Policy Document” for the Economic Committee
of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC).
09 March
Ravi Ranan-Eliya participated
in MOH/JICA “Health Financing Working Group Meeting”
and made two presentations on:
(i) “Health Care
Financing and Equity: What do we know?”
(ii) “Trends in the Performance of Private Health Insurance:
1990-2001”, Hotel Ceysands, Aluthgama,
8-9 March.
2 March
The Executive Director made
a presentation on the “SAFTA Task Force Report
of SACEPS” prepared by the IPS, Nasndhura Palace
Hotel, Male, Maldives.
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