Chinese Ambassador
in Sri Lanka Chargé d'Affaires Hu Wei, along with a large team of senior
diplomats from the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry, invited Regional Cooperation
Minister Tharaka Balasuriya to a field visit to Lotus Tower and Colombo Port
City on 8 September. After a spectacular bird-view of the great Colombo area
and all the mega-projects from the 356-meter high Lotus Tower, which is the greatest
in South Asia, the delegation headed towards Colombo Port City. It inspected
the country's first marina, the first artificial golden beach in downtown
Colombo and the advanced multimedia exhibition.
Hu Wei briefed
Sri Lankan colleagues on the heart-warming stories of joint battling against
the COVID-19 pandemic and the promising developments of the collaborative
reviving Sri Lankan economy over the past half-year in a round table meeting
with vibrant images and video-clips. The Chinese diplomat emphasised that the
pandemic could neither divide the hearts of the two peoples nor obstruct the
growth of the two countries' social-economic cooperation, let alone interfere
with and sabotage.
China and Sri
Lanka bravely broke the Western powers blockade in the 1950s and signed the
historic Rubber-Rice Pact. With the two countries growing much more robust in
the 2020s and our bilateral relations becoming much more vital, we will carry
forward the Rubber-Rice Pact spirit. We will not allow any external powers to
disrupt our cooperation. Balasuriya
stressed that the government of Sri Lanka welcomes investments from China and
would ensure that those investments are well secured. The Colombo Port City is
the largest ever foreign direct investment project in the history of Sri Lanka,
which will draw $13 billion further investment, generate 83,000 jobs and become
the new growth engine on the island.
This initiative
will undoubtedly change the Colombo and Sri Lankan countryside. We are very
positive, and we want to work with the Chinese Government and Chinese companies
in collaboration. In response to a media question on U.S. unilateral sanctions
against Chinese firms, the newly named Minister of State for Regional
Cooperation stressed, "I don't think the penalty will affect us. Recently,
the U.S. government blocked TikTok and then Huawei. I don't know if it's the
new world order or a modern version in the way its executed. Sri Lanka does,
however, believe in free trade. A sovereign nation should have the liberty to
trade with whomever; it wishes to do business."
OSL Take: The
change to upgrade the country’s industrial sector by introducing the newest
technologies with assistance from India and China would enhance Sri Lanka’s
agriculture exports. Sri Lanka already has trade accords with several countries
and trade privileges from the EU and the US, which would benefit any business
involved in exporting goods from Sri Lanka. Therefore, Sri Lanka offers an
excellent base for foreign companies interested in exporting goods from Sri
Lanka to overseas markets.
No comments:
Post a Comment