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Sri Lanka welcomes more Chinese investment: Minister
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IANS | 13 Mar, 2019
Sri Lanka looks forward to benefiting more from the China-proposed Belt
and Road Initiative and is ready to welcome more Chinese investment into
the country, Sri Lankan Minister of Tourism Development, Wildlife and
Christian Religious Affairs John Amaratunga has said.
The
Minister told Xinhua news agency in an interview on Tuesday that Sri
Lanka and China shared strong relations and Sri Lanka was one of the
first countries to pledge support for the Belt and Road Initiative.
"To
start with, Sri Lanka is fully supportive of the Belt and Road
Initiative of China. We have no debate on that. We look forward to
benefiting more from this policy that China has adopted.
"We hope
more investments will come into Sri Lanka from China. There are a lot
of Chinese companies who are looking to invest here, particularly in the
tourism industry. We will gladly welcome all of them and give them all
the support and assistance to start their projects here which will help
our economy," Amaratunga said.
A key project of the Belt and Road
Initiative, the Colombo Port City being constructed close to the
Colombo Harbour by the China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd. has
generated employment for hundreds of locals and will attract millions of
dollars in investments.
According to Sri Lankan Prime Minister
Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Port City will transform Colombo into a
financial and trading hub.
Amaratunga said a joint venture
between Sri Lanka and China to develop the Hambantota Port in southern
Sri Lanka had also brought in many benefits to the local economy,
boosting Sri Lanka's image as a maritime hub and lifting the livelihood
of many locals.
"We have received much assistance from China for
the development of these projects and they are now in the process of
being further developed.
"Besides that there are so many other
areas in which China has helped us. For example in irrigation, road
development and other infrastructural development. We warmly welcome all
these projects and we are grateful to the Chinese government and its
people for the assistance they are rendering to Sri Lanka for its
development," the Minister said.
He added that Sri Lanka looks
forward to submitting new proposals at the second Belt and Road Forum
for International Cooperation which will be held in China next month.
"We look forward to engaging more with the Chinese government under the Belt and Road Initiative."
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