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SL President addresses CIIE 2022 which kicks off in Shanghai! (Video)

Published

11 months ago

November 4, 2022

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The fifth China International Import Expo (CIIE) is all set to be held in Shanghai from tomorrow (05) to next Thursday (10).

The aim is to help boost China’s high-quality economic development, widen opening-up, and achieve win-win results for both importers and exporters.

The event officially kicked off after a special keynote address made by Chinese President Xi Jinping this afternoon (04), a tradition that has been in place since the maiden CIIE In 2018.

Hopeful that negotiations on FTA will be reached soon
The Chinese President’s address was followed by video messages from other heads of state and the initial message was by Sri Lankan President – Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Mr. Wickremesinghe said :

This international import theme expo fair is an innovative stage in the developing countries’ attempts to enter the Chinese market. The CIIE has allowed many countries and businesses to enjoy the benefit of the growing consumption appetite of the Chinese people. Sri Lanka has been participating in the CIIE since its inception. Our businesses have benefited greatly through this participation.

We have been provided the opportunity for our industry to establish a foothold in the Chinese market. Modern relations between Sri Lanka and China began with the rapper rice pack. This is for the Munich agreement at the time. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the package. The bilateral relationship between our two nations has since then expanded into numerous areas. Including trade, investment, tourism, education, defense and health. In 2021 the total volume of trade between our two nations was US dollars 4.3 billion.

China is Sri Lanka’s biggest source of imports and there is room to further develop bilateral trade.

We are hopeful that negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement will be reached in the near future.

“China is open for business”
This year’s CIIE lays special emphasis on “I” for International. It will be bigger than the previous expos with more industrial sectors represented across companies. And it stresses that “China is open for business.”

The exhibition is co-hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of China and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government.

It is organized by China International Import Expo Bureau and Shanghai International Exhibition and National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

Kelum Shivantha reporting from Shanghai

Related Topics:china Featured lka SriLanka

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Govt. to set up mechanism to prevent & control forest fires

Published

4 mins ago

September 26, 2023

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Taking into consideration the number of forest fires reported in the recent past, the Cabinet has approved a proposal to implement a programme to prevent the occurrence of forest fires and extinguish forest fires.

Government said that there is a rapidly increasing risk of forest fire caused by man-made fires around forests, especially during dry weather conditions.

“This situation is common in Badulla, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Matale, Monaragala, Polonnaruwa, Kurunegala, Puttalam and Rathnapura Districts. The number of forest fires reported so far this year is about 150. As a result, around 2,600 hectares of forests have been destroyed,” it said.

Accordingly, the Cabinet approved a proposal presented by the Forest and Wildlife Conservation Minister to implement a programme with the support of the government and other relevant parties from the national-level to the rural-level to prevent the occurrence of forest fires and extinguish forest fires.

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Cabinet approves proposal to obtain USD 200mn from ADB

Published

9 mins ago

September 26, 2023

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The Cabinet has approved a proposal to obtain an amount of USD 200 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) subject to an annual interest rate of 2%.

Initial discussions between the ADB and the Sri Lankan Government were held to obtain two loan facilities worth USD 200 million each based on policies to implement two sub-programmes under the economic stabilization and reformation programme.

It has been proposed to implement accelerated reformations to enhance the conflict management framework and the stabilization in the finance sector under the first sub-programme while it has been proposed to develop an all-inclusive resistant finance system under the second sub-programme.

Accordingly, the proposal submitted by the President as the Minister of Finance, to enter into a loan agreement with the ADB to obtain USD 200 million with a repaying period of 25 years inclusive of a grace period of 05 years in relation to the first sub-programme, was approved by the Cabinet.