Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Dinesh Gunawardena, is set to undertake an official visit to China from March 25th to 30th, following an invitation from Chinese Premier Li Qiang, announced foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on Friday.

During the visit, Prime Minister Gunawardena will have significant engagements, including meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li, and Zhao Leji, the chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (The third-highest member of the Chinese Communist Party).

He will also be the chief guest at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference being held at Boao in South China’s Hainan Province.

The event will focus on how the international community could work together to deal with challenges and shoulder responsibility, a statement issued by the organisers said.

The leaders will have an in-depth exchange of views on continuing China-Sri Lanka traditional friendship, deepening political mutual trust, expanding practical cooperation, as well as international and regional issues of common interest, the spokesperson said.

China and Sri Lanka are neighboring countries that share traditional friendship. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1957, the two countries have always helped each other, setting a good example of equal treatment and friendly coexistence between countries, Lin said.

In recent years, China and Sri Lanka have witnessed frequent high-level exchanges, enhanced political mutual trust, increasingly close exchanges and cooperation in economy, trade, culture and other fields, and sound communication and coordination on international and regional affairs, Lin noted.

Last October, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe attended the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, where President Xi had an in-depth exchange of views with him, and they reached an important consensus on developing China-Sri Lanka relations, Lin said.

Noting that China attaches great importance to the development of bilateral relations, Lin said China stands ready to work with Sri Lanka to jointly promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and push for new progress in developing China-Sri Lanka strategic cooperative partnership featuring sincere mutual assistance and lasting friendship.