Sri Lanka would like to make joint efforts with China for 21 Century Maritime Silk Road construction, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday.
When meeting with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka would take advantage of Indian Ocean hub location to achieve this end.
For his part, the Chinese foreign minister said Sri Lanka enjoys unique geographical advantage as the connection point of Asia, Africa and South Asian Subcontinent, Xinhua news agency said.
In the framework of the “one belt and one road” initiative, China will work together with Sri Lanka to push forward two countries’ relationship to higher level, he said.
Through the implementation of mega projects such as Port City and Hambantota Port development, China will assist Sri Lanka in improving infrastructure and port industrial development.
Meanwhile, China and Sri Lanka will further exploit potentials of co-operation, bring the pragmatic co-operation in various fields to a new level, and boost the consistent development of strategic co-operative partnership, said the foreign minister.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made a historic visit to Sri Lanka in 2014 and planned a blueprint for the development of bilateral relations, said Wang, stressing that China’s friendly policies and mutually beneficial co-operation with Sri Lanka did not change in the past and will not change in the future.