President thanks China for development assistance

Saturday, 26 October 2013 07:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

President Mahinda Rajapaksa praised China’s generosity and engagement with Sri Lanka during the opening of the venue for the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) on Thursday. The Bandaranaike Memorial International Convention Hall (BMICH), which was initially donated by China decades ago, was

renovated with funding from the same source. The facelift, which cost around 2 billion rupees, was done with funding assistance from China for the BMICH to be the venue for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) hosted by Sri Lanka in mid-November. Fifty-three heads of state will attend the event at the BMICH, which will be ceremoniously headed by England’s Prince Charles who will represent Queen Elizabeth. “I would like to say thank you to China for its generous assistance to us at all times. A Convention Hall such as this was a great gift to us and we hope to expand on that by building two more in two other districts in Sri Lanka with the financial assistance of China,” Rajapaksa said. The two new convention halls will be built in Kandy and Anuradhapura, President added.