Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, left, is greeted by his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe at the latter’s official residence in Tokyo yesterday.

Reuters
Tokyo
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged aid to Sri Lanka yesterday in a meeting with his counterpart, Ranil Wickremsinghe, and reiterated a promise to help Sri Lanka bolster its maritime security and to provide
patrol ships.
Sri Lanka is moving away from the former government’s pro-China stance and has suspended most Chinese-backed infrastructure projects.
It is also trying to put more emphasis on ties with Japan, which dovetails with Abe’s hope to counter a rising China.
Sri Lankan government officials said in July they were seeking sources of cheaper funding to replace about 70% of the more than $5bn in debt from Chinese lenders with loans at cheaper interest and longer durations.
Abe pledged about 45.4bn yen ($377mn) in infrastructure aid, while Wickremsinghe said his government would create a more favourable investment climate by ensuring transparency and good governance.
The leaders said in a joint declaration released after their talks that they “decided to hold an economic policy dialogue at the senior officials-level in the first half of 2016” to map out details of their economic co-operation.
Wickremesinghe, for his part, promised that Sri Lanka’s new government will “create a more favourable investment climate, ensuring transparency and good governance to attract
investment from Japanese companies.”
In line with Japan’s efforts to develop high-quality infrastructure in Asia, the two countries have signed a document about the upgrade of an airport in Sri Lanka. The two leaders also said they will co-operate more closely in urban transport infrastructure and information and communication technology in Sri Lanka, the joint declaration read.
The two reaffirmed the “importance of the freedom of navigation and overflight of the high seas” and expressed hope a dialogue on maritime affairs will take place by the end of this year, the
declaration said.
Abe also unveiled that Japan will train about 1,800 Sri Lankan local public officials by next year, and support the reconstruction efforts of Sri Lanka following decades of civil war.