Chinese Ambassador calls on Speaker Karu Jayasuriya

On 8 August, Chinese Ambassador Yi Xianliang visited Speaker Karu Jayasuriya who has just recovered from illness. He wished the Speaker good health in the future and invited him to visit China at an early date convenient to both sides. The two sides exchanged views on China-Sri Lanka relations.

Ambassador Yi said China-Sri Lanka relations had a long history. During the past more than one year period after the change of Sri Lankan government, bilateral cooperation has gradually overcome the difficulties through joint efforts of both sides, and ushered in new development opportunities. The Chinese side will continue to support the economic and social development of Sri Lanka, encourage more Chinese tourists to visit Sri Lanka and further promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of culture, Buddhism, education, etc. 

“The two sides could expand pragmatic cooperation through the projects such as Colombo Port City and China-Sri Lanka industrial zone in the south to establish Sri Lanka’s fundamental industry system and build Sri Lanka into a regional hub of logistics, information and finance. We welcome you to visit China at an early date, so as to strengthen the exchange of legislative bodies and deepen the traditional friendship of the two countries,” the Ambassador added.

The Speaker appreciated Yi’s greetings and said Sri Lanka-China friendship had a firm foundation, and the Sri Lankan people thought that China was a true friend of Sri Lanka. “We highly appreciated the precious long-term help and support of China in fields of political, economy, security, culture and disaster relief etc. I was glad to see the bilateral relations returned to the normal track, and believed that the efficient progress of the bilateral cooperation projects would boost the better and faster development of Sri Lankan economy.”

Jayasuriya expressed his willingness to lead a delegation compromised of leaders of all parties in the Parliament to visit China and enhance exchanges with Chinese counterpart and contribute to the development of Sri Lanka-China relations.