Senior Japanese Parliamentarian on fact-finding mission to help SL

Wednesday, 21 September 2022 00:13 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Liberal Democratic Party Senior Japanese Parliamentarian Martsusuta Shinpei met Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena yesterday at the Prime Minister’s Office to discuss cooperation between the two countries and areas of possible future cooperation.

Martsusuta Shinpei said the main purpose of his current visit is to see for himself how Sri Lanka is coping with the economic crisis and to find out how Japan could assist in this process. He expressed gratitude to Sri Lanka for President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s scheduled visit to Tokyo to attend late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s funeral.

The Prime Minister said that Sri Lanka hailed late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as a great friend of the country and it was natural for the Sri Lankan President to attend the funeral to pay respect to the departed leader.

He thanked Diet Senior MP for the Japanese long-standing assistance to Sri Lanka. He said that Sri Lanka remains open to explore opportunities to further deepening and widening of bilateral relations, not only by greater trade and investment cooperation, but also in the areas of infrastructure, transport, electronics, fishing, agriculture and renewable energy. He also stressed the need for promotion of cultural exchanges to the mutual benefit of the two peoples.

Martsusuta Shinpei said he would encourage more and more Japanese investors to invest in Sri Lanka. At present, about 80 enterprises with Japanese investment are in operation under the purview of the BOI.

They have made their investment in the fields such as manufacturing semiconductors, printed circuit boards, safety sensors, ceramic items, cement, apparel, building and repairing ships, fabrication and installation of integrated buildings, power sector, tourism sector, infrastructure and logistics.

Japan Ambassador Mizukoshi Hideaki, First Secretary Inoue Kemji and Second Secretary Imai Kaori and Secretary to the Prime Minister Anura Dissanayake were also present during the meeting.