China, Sri Lanka chart new path for media cooperation at Colombo seminar

The 2026 China-Sri Lanka Media Cooperation and Exchange Seminar opened Friday in Colombo, drawing more than 80 government officials, journalists and scholars from both countries.

Speaking at the event, Kaushalya Ariyarathne, Sri Lanka's deputy minister of mass media, said recent progress in bilateral media collaboration demonstrates that the press is no longer mere a means of transmitting information, but a vital tool for fostering mutual understanding and strengthening cultural and people-to-people ties between the two societies.

Both Sri Lanka and China regard media as an important area of bilateral cooperation and see a shared need to tackle challenges and opportunities brought by new technologies, she said, adding that the seminar can help advance sustainable media dialogue and cooperation.

Participants agreed that as China and Sri Lanka deepen their friendship through economic cooperation, regional connectivity, infrastructure development, and cultural and scientific exchanges, the role of media organizations will grow even more important. They stressed that media must responsibly report on development achievements, clearly explain the essence of cooperation, and promote mutual respect, working together to advance the China-Sri Lanka community with a shared future.

Following the seminar, the two sides jointly released the Colombo Initiative on China-Sri Lanka Media Cooperation and the China-Sri Lanka Media Cooperation Action Plan, charting a new path for exchanges and collaboration between their media sectors.

China, Sri Lanka chart new path for media cooperation at Colombo seminar

The French government has cut its 2026 economic growth forecast to 0.5 percent from the previous 0.7 percent, the country's Minister of Economics, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty Roland Lescure said Friday.

Lescure announced the forecast at a press conference on the government's updated macroeconomic outlook, adding that the government expects the economy to grow 1 percent in 2027.

The government also expects inflation to reach 2.1 percent in 2026 and 1.8 percent in 2027, Lescure said.

It was the government's third downward revision to its 2026 growth forecast this year. It lowered the forecast to 0.9 percent from 1 percent in April, before cutting it again to 0.7 percent in July.

The weaker growth outlook has complicated France's fiscal consolidation plans.

Overall, "we have therefore halved the growth estimates for this year," Lescure said, noting that against this backdrop, the target of limiting the budget deficit to 5 percent of GDP in 2026 "is no longer an option." "France will have a deficit above 5 percent in 2026," he added.

The government's new forecast remains slightly higher than the latest estimate from the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee), which lowered its forecast to 0.4 percent from 0.7 percent in its latest economic outlook report released Thursday.

Compared with its neighboring countries, France's economy is lagging behind, mainly due to a reduced public engineering projects affected by heatwaves, a weaker labor market and unfavorable fiscal situation, Insee said.

French gov't cuts 2026 economic growth forecast to 0.5 pct