President hails Chinese President's Silk Road initiative
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has hailed Chinese President Xi Jinping's
initiative of 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, saying the economic
corridor bears significance to the island nation's development. The Sri
Lankan president said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua at the
President Palace that his country will join China's efforts in the Silk
Road trade cooperation.
Rajapaksa said Xi's scheduled visit in Sri Lanka, which would be the
first of Chinese president over the past 28 years, is 'important' for
the development of the bilateral ties.
He said the two nations have a history of friendly relations and the
friendship was ushered into a new era since the two sides upgraded their
ties to strategic cooperative partnership in May last year.
"Since I took office of the president, I have toured China seven
times, during which I have met President Xi Jinping on several
occasions," Rajapaksa said.
"China accounts for the largest number of my working travel
destination and I am looking forward to President Xi's visit."
Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka wishes to boost cooperation with China in
trade and investment, which harmonises with the framework of the 21st
Century Silk Road. The two nations, since Sri Lanka ended the
decade-long conflict in 2009, have effectively cooperated in
re-construction and other sectors, said the president.
Chinese enterprises have been carrying out a number of infrastructure
projects in Sri Lanka and the president praised the establishment as
having positive impact on his country's social stability and prosperity.
On the planned Free Trade Agreement (FTA) dialogue, Rajapaksa said, "Our
cooperation covers many sectors including industry, energy, technology,
infrastructure and tourism."
He said the FTA will boost the trade and investment ties as well as
Sri Lanka's export to China, creating new momentum for the island
nation's development. The president said his country welcomes more
Chinese visitors to tour Sri Lanka. China is Sri Lanka's third largest
source of tourists.
The number of Chinese visitors in Sri Lanka stood at 82,000 in the
first eight months of the year, seeing a year-on-year rise of 141
percent. The figure is predicted to surpass 100,000 at the end of this
year.
- Xinhua
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