Sri Lanka, China pledge to further boost bilateral ties

Sri Lanka and China agreed to further develop their strategic cooperative partnership, visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Friday.

When meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart Mangala Samaraweera, Wang said both sides should implement the consensus reached by the leadership of the two countries and enhance their mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields.

The China-Sri Lanka strategic cooperative partnership is the achievement of efforts exerted by both governments and peoples through generations, he said.

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 cooperation with Sri Lanka did not change in the past and will not change in the future.

Currently both countries are developing sound, stable and mutually beneficial ties.

China and Sri Lanka will jointly push forward large-scale projects such as construction of road, railway, port and airport, which will benefit their enterprises and people, the Chinese minister said.

He hoped China and Sri Lanka will successfully hold celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 65th anniversary of the historic Rubber-Rice Pact.

For his part, Samaraweera expressed appreciation for the long-tiem assistance given by China for the development of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is expected to further enhance cooperation with China in the fields of trade and investment, and earnestly advance major cooperation projects of airport and port among others in the island nation, he said. Endit