Sri Lanka and China agree to boost bilateral ties

Saturday, 14 February 2015 01:45 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

President Maithripala Sirisena with Wang Jiarui, a senior official of the Communist Party of China Sri Lanka and China pledged to strengthen bilateral cooperation when President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met with Wang Jiarui, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Xinhua news agency reported. According to the report, President Sirisena has said Sri Lanka appreciates the assistance that China had offered over the past and the country will continue to strengthen friendly cooperation with China in various sectors. The President has added that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party is willing to deepen friendly exchanges with the CPC in a bid to promote the strategic partnership between the two countries. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has said Sri Lanka’s new Government attaches great importance to relations with China, and welcomes Chinese companies to invest in Sri Lanka.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe with Wang Jiarui, a senior official of the Communist Party of China The Prime Minister hoped that exchanges and cooperation between Sri Lanka’s United National Party of which he is the leader and the CPC would add more momentum to bilateral relations. Wang, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and Head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, has said that China highly values the development of friendly relations with Sri Lanka. He added that China would like to further coordinate development strategies and expand pragmatic cooperation with Sri Lanka, and welcomed Sri Lanka’s participation in China’s 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative. Wang, who is in Sri Lanka for a visit on Thursday and Friday, has said that the CPC is willing to strengthen exchanges with parties in Sri Lanka so as to consolidate bilateral relations and friendship between the two peoples.