Sri Lanka is seeking further investment from China and has taken substantial actions to protect investor’s rights, said Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, the country’s Speaker of Parliament.
The top official, who just attended the eighth China-South Asia Expo in Kunming, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, highlighted that the expo brings together enterprises from China and South Asia for trade opportunities while speaking in an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network.
“Last time we had only 80-odd participants. This time we had 126, or something like that, so the number of participants has increased considerably. The number one is gem and jewelry. Gem and jewelry is very popular and successful business in our country. Now they want to capture the Chinese market. The Chinese market is very attractive. The other thing was the garment industry. The garment industry is also is one of the lucrative businesses in the country. With this exhibition, I invite Chinese investors to come and invest in Sri Lanka in these fields, especially the tea, gem and jewelry, and garments,” he said.
Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena shared that the two countries will further cooperate under the Belt and Road Initiative, especially to advance flagship projects including the Colombo Port City and the Hambantota Port.
“Belt and Road Initiative is not a new thing for Sri Lanka. Thousands of years ago, there had been Chinese businessmen who did a lot of business in my country. Now, with this new approach, with the Belt and Road [Initiative], there is an ample opportunity, and it can expand unprecedentedly in our country. The port city is totally a Chinese investment, and Sri Lanka has recognized it. And in parliament, we have passed the legislation to give security for the investors. It’s a special law that is investor beneficial, investor friendly, and their investments are untouched,” he said.
The official also highly praised the medical aid offered by China for local cataract patients and expressed expectations that there will more exchanges in tourism.
“Those cataract operations were very successful and there was a big demand. And more than that, now China has given us a friendship hospital in Polonnaruwa. It’s for kidney patients. It’s an amazing investment, amazing donation to our country and which we appreciate very much. Tourism is also another industry that we develop in our country. There are very attractive sceneries, very attractive tourist offerings. If you can get 10 percent of your tourist influx to the country, that is more than enough for us to survive our industry. Chinese tourists are very well recognized and accepted by the Sri Lankan government and by the Sri Lankan people,” he said.
(CCTV +)
