SL to roll out preferential policies at faster pace for China

Sri Lanka recently expressed its keenness in luring in investments from China, for which it stands ready to provide a favourable investment and business environment.

Accordingly, the island nation plans to roll out at a faster pace preferential policies to facilitate the implementation of the Colombo Port City and Hambantota Port integrated development projects, the two nations said in a joint statement, following Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena’s official visit to China last week. 

In return, China expressed willingness to continue to encourage competent Chinese enterprises to invest in Sri Lanka and assist the island nation in achieving economic transformation and  sustainable development.
The country will also continue supporting Sri Lankan enterprises in tea and other industries in establishing ties with relevant Chinese associations of importers and exporters.

Further it will facilitate Sri Lanka’s participation in expos such as the China International Import Expo, the China-South Asia Exposition and the China Import and Export Fair, make good use of e-commerce platforms, and further enhance cooperation between enterprises of the two countries on the basis of mutual benefit and win-win outcomes. 

The two sides will work towards the early conclusion of a comprehensive free trade agreement in one package in line with the principles of equality, mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.

China said it is also ready to work with Sri Lanka and continue to deliver on the emergency humanitarian assistance to support Sri Lanka in its economic development and livelihood improvement. Plans are underway to step up cooperation in areas such as medical health, connectivity and climate change. 

Meanwhile, the two sides agree to work together to deepen high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, accelerate the formulation of a Belt and Road cooperation plan, and make all-out efforts to advance the Colombo Port City project and the integrated development project of Hambantota Port as signature projects of Belt and Road cooperation between the two countries.