Silk Route creates potential for stronger Guangxi-SL ties

Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen and Secretary of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region’s CPC Committee Peng Qinghua (both seated centre), accompanied by their respective officials, discuss Guangxi Zhuang-Sri Lanka bilateral cooperation 

An official from China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which is a significant cog in China’s 21st Century Maritime Silk Route plan, expressed optimism over the possibility of the region expanding trade and cooperation with Sri Lanka   

“I believe that with the progress of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Route, Guangxi will be better equipped for greater cooperation and linking with Sri Lanka as a coastal region of South China,” said the Secretary of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region’s CPC Committee Peng Qinghua in Nanning, China yesterday.

Secretary Qinghua, who once served as the Director of the China Central Government’s Liaison Office in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, made these remarks during a discussion with Sri Lankan Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen. 

Minister Bathiudeen is currently leading a 23-member Sri Lankan trade and business delegation to the CAEXPO 13 international expo in Nanning, the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Joining Minister Bathiudeen were Head of Mission of the Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Guangzhou Shanika Dissanayake, who clinched the CAEXPO 13 Special Guest Country status for Sri Lanka, and Minister Bathiudeen’s senior advisor Himali Jinadasa. 

“A key point of CAEXPO is not only to connect with ASEAN countries but also countries outside, including in South and East Asia,” said Secretary Qinghua. “Therefore it’s an important window for countries outside ASEAN to enter into Chinese and Asian markets. Sri Lanka’s attendance at CAEXPO 13 has added glamour to the event. I’d like to take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the Sri Lankan Government and Your Excellency Bathiudeen. Taking advantage of your attendance at CAEXPO as a special guest country, Guangxi would like to expand our cooperation with Sri Lanka, which enjoys strategic importance in our Maritime Silk Road. Guangxi is one of the ancient departure points of the historic silk route, having been connected to South Asia through the route 2,000 years ago.” 

Secretary Qinghua, who often directly receives foreign leaders to his Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Nanning offices and has decision-making power on Guangxi Zhuang investment commitments to them, added: “We found Sri Lankan artefacts from archaeological excavations of the Beihei City Emperor’s tomb in Guangxi Province and these artefacts arrived here through the silk route.”

Responding to Secretary Qinghua, Minister Bathiudeen focused on the historical significance of Sino-Sri Lanka relations, saying: “We give great importance to China’s One Belt One Road initiative and recognise the pivotal role of the Guangxhi Province in this initiative. Sri Lanka too is in a strategic location on the maritime silk route. Guangxhi’s CAEXPO 13 generated great interest among Sri Lanka’s private sector and we look forward to engage bigger Lankan delegations for future CAEXPOs as well as Government to Government cooperation. In this we are pleased with your invitation to Sri Lanka to enhance relations with the Guangxhi Province and at a Government to Government level. And as a starting point, we extend our invitation to a high level Guangxi delegation to visit Sri Lanka, with your leadership if possible, to enhance trade and investment cooperation between us and Guangxi.”

Bilateral trade between China and Sri Lanka topped $ 4 billion in 2015, along with a steady 14% surge from 2014’s $ 3.5 billion.  

The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is located at a strategic point bordering Hong Kong, Macao, Vietnam, and in the South, the Beibu Gulf. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry “President Xi Jinping called for Guangxi to build itself into an international passage to ASEAN, a strategic pivot for the opening-up and development of southwest, central and southern China and a crucial window connecting the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.”

Minister Bathiudeen and Secretary Qinghua also discussed cooperation in the agricultural sector - with special emphasis placed on tea - and other industries. 

Minister Bathiudeen joined 15 Chinese and ASEAN leaders at the CAEXPO 13 inauguration on 11 September in Nanning, functioning as a delegation lead of Sri Lanka, which held CAEXPO Special Guest Country status at the event.