SRI LANKA. Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
A country located in South Asia on the island of the same name in the Indian Ocean, south of the Indian Peninsula. Area — 65.6 thousand km². The official capital is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (in the suburbs of Colombo; the seat of parliament), the de facto capital is Colombo (about 1.3 million), major cities include Kandy, Galle, Jaffna, Trincomalee. Administrative-territorial division: 25 districts. Population — about 19.5 million (2004), of which about 74% are Sinhalese, 18% are Tamils, 8% are descendants of Arabs and Malays who speak Tamil. In the deep regions live several thousand Veddas - the remaining indigenous inhabitants of the island. There are several hundred thousand Burghers - descendants of the English, Dutch, and Portuguese. The official languages are Sinhala, Tamil, and English. The main religions are Buddhism (Sinhalese - 70%), Hinduism (in Tamil areas; 15%), Islam (Sunni Muslims; 8%), Christianity (7%). The currency is the rupee = 100 cents.
From 1887 to 1918, a Russian consulate operated in Colombo. It has diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation (established with the USSR in February 1957).
The national holiday is February 4 - Independence Day (1948).
According to the current (with subsequent amendments) constitution of 1978, Sri Lanka is a unitary state with a presidential form of government. The head of state — the president of the country was elected in the general elections in November 2005 for a term of 6 years, the representative of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, candidate of the United People's Freedom Alliance, M. Rajapaksa.
The currently functioning supreme legislative body is a unicameral parliament, elected by a proportional representation system in April 2004 for a term of 5 years (a total of 225 seats; the United People's Freedom Alliance has 105 seats (including the Sri Lanka Freedom Party - 65 and the People's Liberation Front - 40), the UNP - 82 seats, the Tamil nationalist parties' bloc - the Tamil National Alliance (operating since 1972) - 22 seats, the Buddhist clergy party - 9 seats; the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress - 5 seats). The post of Prime Minister is held by R. Wickremanayake. The government is a coalition (United People's Freedom Alliance and small parties).
There are about 30 political parties in the country with a wide spectrum — from left-extremist to orthodox-religious conservative groups. At the same time, during the years of independent existence of the Sri Lankan state, essentially two major political parties have alternately been in power - the United National Party (UNP, founded in 1946) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP, founded in 1951), representing various groups of the Sinhalese ruling elite. The UNP was in power in 1948-56, 1960, 1964-70, 1977-94, and 2001-04. The SLFP ruled the country in 1956-64 (except for the spring and summer of 1960) and in coalition with leftist forces from 1970-77, 1994-2001, and currently.
Trade union associations: Democratic Workers' Congress, Workers' Congress, Federation of Trade Unions, Federation of Public Service Workers' Unions, Federation of Labour.
The history of Sri Lanka (until 1972 - Ceylon) is full of dramatic events. Long before the beginning of the new era, the island was populated by migrants from North-East India - the Sinhalese, as well as from South India - the Tamils. In the 16th century, it became a colony of Portugal, in the 17th century - of the Netherlands, and from the 18th to the mid-20th century - of Great Britain. In 1948, the country gained independence as a dominion, and in 1972 it was proclaimed the Republic of Sri Lanka, and since 1978 - the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.
Since the late 1970s, the internal political situation in Sri Lanka has been largely determined by a permanent military-political confrontation caused by the unresolved Sinhalese-Tamil ethnic conflict.
The complex intertwining of contradictions between the two leading ethnic groups of Sri Lanka led to the emergence of a separatist movement for the creation of an independent Tamil state "Tamil Eelam," the main ideologist and inspirer of which is the militant terrorist organization "Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam" (LTTE) led by V. Prabhakaran. Since 1983, the conflict between the government and the LTTE has escalated into open armed struggle, claiming over 65,000 lives. As a result of terrorist acts, the president of the country R. Premadasa (1993), the leader of the UNP G. Dissanayake (1994), several ministers, and senior officials of the armed forces were killed. During the conflict, almost one-fifth of the country's territory, controlled by the LTTE (the north and east of Sri Lanka), was essentially removed from economic circulation.
Being unable to achieve a radical breakthrough in the armed confrontation with the separatists, the authorities of Sri Lanka, with foreign mediation (in recent years, Norway) and assistance from the USA, Japan, and EU countries, have made repeated attempts to find a political solution to the ethnic conflict while maintaining the unity and territorial integrity of the state. The result of such efforts was, in particular, the signing of a permanent ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE in February 2002 and the start of negotiations with the LTTE in September 2002, which, however, were interrupted in April 2003 due to the "Tigers." President M. Rajapaksa has expressed readiness to resume negotiations on the entire range of issues of political settlement of the conflict. However, the LTTE intends to discuss exclusively the issue of creating a transitional administration in the northeast of the island, which, according to the authorities' fears, may become a prologue to the sovereignty of this part of the island.
On the international stage, Sri Lanka pursues a course of maintaining peace and security, implementing broad economic cooperation, with the main task of foreign policy being to ensure favorable external conditions for resolving the ethnic conflict and accelerating the country's socio-economic development.
Sri Lanka has been a member of the Commonwealth, led by Great Britain, since 1948, the Colombo Plan since 1950, the UN since 1955, the Non-Aligned Movement since 1961, and SAARC since 1985, and a member of the BIMSTEC economic cooperation group (which also includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand). It heads the UN Special Committee on the Indian Ocean. The secretariat of the Indian Ocean Marine Affairs Cooperation Organization (IOMAC) is located in Colombo, where regular annual sessions are held with the participation of about 20 countries.
Sri Lanka is predominantly an agrarian country (about 65% of the self-employed population is engaged in agriculture) with a rapidly developing industry and service sector. The average annual GDP growth over the last 15 years has been about 5-6% per year.
Sri Lanka was one of the first countries in the South Asian region to embark on comprehensive market reforms back in the late 1970s, which contributed to an increase in investment in the country's economy. In 2004, the volume of foreign investments amounted to $200 million. The main investors are the USA, Japan, India, and EU countries. In 5 free trade zones, over 200 enterprises operate, mainly in the production of textile products for export.
The GDP volume is about $19 billion (2004), almost half of the GDP is generated in 3 sectors of plantation agriculture, producing tea, rubber, and processing coconut products. The need for rice is mainly met by domestic production, with annual wheat imports, mainly through American aid, amounting to about 300,000 tons.
In 2004, the external debt exceeded $19 billion, and the annual inflation rate was 7%.
The volume of foreign trade turnover in 2004 amounted to about $12 billion with a deficit of about $2 billion. The main export goods (totaling $5 billion): tea (one of the leading places in the world), rubber, textile products, coconut products, and precious stones, mainly sapphires. Sri Lanka's imports amounted to $7 billion. Leading trading partners of Sri Lanka: the USA, Japan, Germany, England, India, the UAE, China, Iran, and South Korea. The trade volume with Russia in 2004 amounted to about $150 million.
The banking sector of Sri Lanka is developing dynamically. There are 25 commercial banks in the country, of which 18 are branches of foreign banks. Foreign exchange reserves are $2 billion (2004).
The annual income per capita is about $1,000 (2004), the unemployment rate is high - 10%, and a significant portion of the population lives below the poverty line.
In terms of education (literacy rate of the population - about 95%), Sri Lanka occupies one of the leading positions in Asia.
Education in state schools is free; there is a large network of private paid schools where instruction is mainly conducted in English. The number of students in higher education institutions exceeds 25,000. Leading universities include the universities of Colombo, Kandy (Peradeniya), Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Jaffna, and Matara. The association of graduates from higher education institutions of the former USSR numbers about 2,000 people.
There are 5 main newspaper and publishing associations in the country, publishing about 50 newspapers and magazines in three languages - English, Sinhala, and Tamil. The daily circulation of all newspapers exceeds 300,000. The largest among them are: "Daily News," "Island," "Observer," "Silumina," "Dinamina," "Divaina," "Sunday Times." The national news agency is Lankapuwat. The national cooperative news agency (joint-stock company of newspapers of Sri Lanka) is the Press Trust of Sri Lanka. The state broadcasting corporation "Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation" broadcasts in three languages, covering the entire territory of the country. Television is represented by 2 state programs and 4 private channels, with periodic copies of news from the BBC, CNN, and several Hong Kong (China) television programs.