Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said Sri Lanka highly values China’s continuous support.
He was speaking when Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Shenhong met him at Temple Trees in Colombo on Monday (26) to discuss bilateral relations.
The Prime Minister said Sri Lanka looks forward to direct investments from China as well as investments in agriculture, renewable energy, IT, education and water supply sectors to provide long term solutions to economic issues.
The areas covered during the discussion included issues relating to new investment projects, furthering trade with China, the Colombo Port City, Hambantota Port, poverty alleviation programmes, education, agriculture, cultural exchanges, high-level exchanges and assistance to underprivileged.
The Prime Minister made a special request to support Sri Lanka’s rice growing rural population to increase production by introducing high yielding rice varieties developed in Yunnan Province in China.
Ambassador Qi Shenhong said he was pleased to see the resilience of Sri Lanka to overcome difficulties and assured China’s continuous support to Sri Lanka’s efforts to meet the current efforts at debt restructuring and meet economic challenges.
He said he planned to visit schools in remote areas of Badulla and Buttala to distribute educational needs. The Prime Minister thanked him for the assistance provided by China to alleviate the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka.
The Prime Minister also made a special mention about the Chinese stand in support of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty at international fora including the UNHRC.
The discussion initiated with a satisfactory reference to the historical bilateral relations between the two countries. During the meeting, the importance of further strengthening the longstanding cultural ties was emphasised and the Chinese Ambassador said the Chinese Buddhist Associations will continue to help temples and set up internationally important Theravada Buddhist Centre in Sri Lanka.
The Prime Minister agreed to set up a Coordinating Committee to expeditiously implement these proposals. The Prime Minister’s Secretary Anura Dissanayake was also present at the meeting.
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