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Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse will leave for a state visit to China to attend the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), on an invitation from Beijing, the official government website said yesterday.
Rajapakse will leave Sri Lanka today to attend the fourth CICA summit to be held in Shanghai. Forty-six state leaders as well as representatives of international organisations will attend the summit.
Ahead of the conference, Chinese vice foreign minister Cheng Guoping said China, as a founding CICA member and a positive participant in its development, had made its due contribution to enhancing cooperation, solidarity and trust between Asian countries, Xinhua reported.
He described the three targets of the two-day Shanghai summit as promoting communication and trust, gathering consensus and wisdom, and discussing ways to solve pressing issues.
“Through the summit, we hope to offer a platform for countries to exchange views on Asian security and co-operation,” he said.
CICA member states are expected to issue a Shanghai Declaration elaborating on their common aspirations and commitments to strengthening strategic co-ordination and building an integrated security environment.
It will also expound on plans for CICA development over the next 10 years.
Shanghai was chosen to host the summit because it is a window showcasing the fruits of China’s reform and opening-up, Cheng added.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia, President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, President Almazbek Atambayev of Kyrgyzstan and President Hassan Rohani of Iran will also be taking the opportunity to pay state visits to China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will chair the summit.
In 2013, Sri Lanka took part in the summit as an observer country and nine countries including the United States participate in the summit as observers.
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