COLOMBO, Oct 10 (NNN-XINHUA) – Sri Lankan President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday separately met with visiting senior Chinese diplomat, Yang Jiechi, and the two sides discussed closer cooperation between their countries.
Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), arrived on the island on Thursday.
During the meetings, Yang, who is also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, said, the traditional China-Sri Lanka friendship made further progress, due to their mutual care and support in jointly combating the COVID-19 pandemic, while noting that, the two countries have been strategic cooperation partners for generations.
Yang said, China, which always puts its relations with Sri Lanka at an important position, will, under the guidance of the important consensus reached between the two heads of state, continue to develop close bilateral exchanges at the top level, consolidate political mutual trust, map out long-term cooperation, strengthen strategic synergisation, and advance the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
In addition, the senior Chinese official said, China will consistently push forward bilateral cooperation in various sectors, including trade, infrastructure, tourism, agriculture, education, technology and the blue economy, and improve the well-being of the two peoples.
Yang also said China is willing to deepen the anti-pandemic cooperation with Sri Lanka, continue to jointly support the World Health Organisation (WHO), playing a leading role, and join efforts to build a community of common health for mankind.
In his talks with Yang, Sri Lankan President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said, his country’s friendship with China has a long history, and that China’s unselfish support for his country and its experience of state governance is highly important to Sri Lanka’s socio-economic development.
He said, Sri Lanka will firmly commit itself to deepening bilateral friendship, and is willing to make every effort to press forward key cooperation projects, such as the Colombo Port City and the comprehensive development of the Hambantota Harbour, and raise the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.
Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa said, his country warmly welcomes the visit by the Chinese delegation, and that China’s strong support in various fields has helped Sri Lanka strengthen its capacity to resume work and production amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sri Lanka will work with China to maintain the firm mutual support, and welcomes more Chinese companies to invest and do business in the island country, he said, while expressing hope for increasing bilateral people-to-people exchanges.
Sri Lanka is the first leg of Yang’s five-day overseas trip, which will also take him to the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Serbia.– NNN-XINHUA
