Pakistan and US invitations pending - dates to be fixed

by Naalir Jamaldeen

Sri Lanka’s post election international relations revival campaign continues apace with President Maithripala Sirisena scheduled to visit the United Kingdom and China in the course of this month.

The President will visit London from March 7 to 11 to participate in the Commonwealth Week celebrations during which he will call on Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh and also hold talks with the UK government, a spokesman for the President’s Media unit told the Sunday Observer.

President Sirisena will visit China by the end of this month and his itinerary is yet to be finalised.

President Sirisena has also been invited by Pakistan and USA but the dates have not yet been confirmed, he said.

An official of the Prime Minister’s media unit when contacted said that Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, was not accompanying the President to the UK.

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera paid an official visit to China from February 27 to 28 prior to the visit of President Sirisena, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.

During his visit, Minister Samaraweera met the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Hua and held top level discussions on the bilateral ties between the two countries, he said.

After meeting his Chinese counterpart in Beijing, Minister Samaraweera said he did not discuss the Port issue directly and that the government was not only looking at Chinese projects.

“Anything relating to Chinese investments will be shared and discussed with the Chinese government before we take any final decision,” Samaraweera told a news conference, the Ministry spokesperson said.

Samaraweera was the first Sri Lankan Minister to visit China after Sri Lanka’s new government took office, he said.

Sri Lanka is a friendly neighbour of China, he said, adding that bilateral relations enjoy sound political, economic and social relations.

After the new Government took office China and Sri Lanka maintained close high-level contacts, Hua told Minister Samaraweera, he said.

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao visited Sri Lanka recently as the special envoy of the Chinese government, which showed China’s commitment to develop friendly cooperation with Sri Lanka, he said.

Liu’s visit also received a positive response from the Sri Lankan government, he said.The spokesperson said that Minister Samaraweera who met the Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang held discussions on the long lasting bilateral ties and the scheduled visit of President Maithripala Sirisena to China. The Minister also met the Communist Party members and the Minister of Commerce of China.

Minister Samaraweera told the media briefing that Sri Lanka would not take any decision on Chinese projects it is reviewing until it consults China, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said in Beijing yesterday and added that the new government would welcome Chinese investors.