PM’s Secretary to work out team for FTA talks with China– ambassador

• Says SL should realise FTA with China to overcome current difficulties
• Stresses Sri Lanka should be fair and open for all in investments
• Says economic issues should not be politicised at any cost

By Kelum Bandara
Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong, who reiterated the importance of a free trade agreement (FTA) between Sri Lanka and China, said the Secretary to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had been assigned to arrange the Sri Lankan negotiation team.

In a discussion with a select group of journalists on the current developments in Sri Lanka, the ambassador said Sri Lanka should realise the FTA with China to overcome the current difficulties in the long run.
He said China’s international trade volume stands at US $ 6.1 trillion, whereas it is as small as US $ 32 billion in Sri Lanka.

“For China, it will still be minuscule, if the entire amount of Sri Lankan products enters it. Therefore, Sri Lanka will benefit more from such an agreement,” he said.   
There have been six rounds of FTA talks conducted between the two countries.  

Commenting on investment cooperation, he said Sri Lanka should display fairness, openness and transparency in dealing with all the countries and stressed that the economic issues should not be politicised at any cost.   
Referring to his latest meeting with Eastern Province Governor Anuradha Yahampath he said Chinese investments were sought in the province. However, he said Chinese investors sometimes are hesitant in venturing out to invest in Sri Lanka because projects are suspended at the last minute, due to pressure from external parties.   

He was obviously referring to the suspension of the power projects in the northern islands upon request by India to the Sri Lankan government. Asked about the future of the project, he said it would be better to make any inquiry from the Sri Lankan government. 

Responding to a question about the Chinese debt trap, he said China is not the biggest lender of Sri Lanka. He said even the money acquired by Sri Lanka by leasing out the Hambantota port was not used to resettle the loan obtained from the Chinese authorities. Instead, he said such money was used to top up foreign reserves of Sri Lanka grappling with a debt crisis over international sovereign bonds at that time. The ambassador associated himself with the remarks made by Finance Minister Ali Sabry that the Sri Lankan economy had been run on credit card since independence.

“The current crisis is not a new phenomenon. It has been in the making over the years. There is no doubt that Sri Lanka needs debt sustainability,” he said.