BOI participates at Guangxi (China) – Sri Lanka Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum

BOI participated at the Guangxi – Sri Lanka Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum and conducted a presentation on the potential for Chinese investments in Sri Lanka.  

The leading speaker on the Chinese side was Jiang Liansheng, Director General of the Department of the Commerce of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. Jiang stated that there is a strategic partnership between China and Sri Lanka as a result of the One Belt and One Road Initiative (OBOR) by the Chinese Government that was held in Beijing recently.

He added that President XIJinping had delivered a speech that promoted peace cooperation to help and create mutual benefits. There is also innovation taking place between the different civilisations of the countries of the OBOR initiative.

Guangxi is the closest part of China to Sri Lanka with strong links with South Asia and South East Asia. Guangxi is now the new pole for trade and investment in coastal development of China. The Autonomous Region is close to Indochina and has a very distractive culture.

In that context Guangxi is an ideal springboard as it is also one of the departure ports of the Maritime Silk Route.

Areas of co-operation between Guangxi and Sri Lanka include agriculture and especially, tea where Sri Lanka leads in black tea production and Guangxi in green jasmine flavoured tea.  

Sri Lanka and China are also celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations and visits such as this one are an excellent opportunity to build up the connectivity between the two countries.

The next step will be the Free Trade Agreement between Sri Lanka and China.  This will undoubtedly boost Chinese investments both in the area of FDI and infrastructure.

The Chinese Commercial Counsellor Yang Zuoyuan also stated that Sri Lanka is an important stop on the OBOR. Friendship goes back to the earliest times with recorded trade between the Sinhalese Kingdoms and the Chinese Empire.

Chinese projects in Sri Lanka include the South Colombo Port, Puttalam coal power station and even the Nelum Pokkuna Theater to name just a few.

These projects are a testimony to the great friendship between the people of China and Sri Lanka.

The Colombo Port City and the Hambantota Industrial Park will have a far reaching impact on Sri Lanka in development terms. They will boost Sri Lanka’s economy and create new opportunities.

On the tourism front Sri Lanka attracted 275,000 Chinese tourists in 2016. China has emerged as Sri Lanka’s leading tourism market and flights between the two countries have been increased.

During the OBOR Forum Sri Lanka was represented by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who led a VIP delegation. Many agreements for co-operation were signed during that visit.

The Counsellor concluded by saying that relations between the two countries were expanding and will result in mutual benefits for both China and Sri Lanka.