PM, Ministers visit Guanzhou City
Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his delegation, left for Guanzhou, the
capital and the largest city of China’s Guandong province.
A senior spokesman of the government said the Prime Minister’s visit
to China would be important to Sri Lanka on the business and economic
front. Ministers Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and Patali Champika Ranawaka
also joined the Prime Minister in the visit.
Guangzhou is the third largest city in China, after Beijing and
Shanghai, with a population of 13,080,500 and it forms part of one of
the most populous metropolitan agglomerations in the world. Guangzhou is
also identified as a Beta global city, speaking volumes of his
sophisticated city planning and economic growth.
The Prime Minister’s visit to China takes places in a context where
Sri Lanka is making grand plans for the western province megapolis
programme. Before leaving for China, Western region megapolis planning
project Chairman Ajita de Costa told the Sunday Observer that, during
the visit, they would closely observe the manner in which China had
planned and developed the Guanzhou city.
He said it would obviously help Sri Lanka’s plans for the much talked
about Western region megapolis. Another important aspect would be how
Sri Lanka wants to integrate the Colombo Port (Financial) City into the
much larger megapolis plan.
Against this backdrop, the Prime Minister’s five-day visit to China
has drawn a lot of attention from business and financial circles. |