SL well placed to understand value of free trade: China
Highlighting the importance of Sri Lanka’s strategic location, Chinese Ambassador in Sri Lanka Cheng Xueyuan said no other country could better understand the importance of upholding free trade than Sri Lanka.
In a statement, he said Sri Lanka has acted as a centre for regional trade since ancient times because it is located at the centre of the Indian Ocean.
“Sri Lanka has not only played its role as a “central node” in promoting global trade but also benefited a lot from the free trade taking place around it. Let us work hand-in-hand to uphold the open and inclusive world trading system. Sri Lanka will certainly gain faster and better development from the free and open world trading system,” the ambassador said.
When it comes to Sri Lanka, he said the value of bilateral trade had reached 4.4 billion US dollars in 2017.“A large quantity of high-quality and inexpensive products made in China have been exported to Sri Lanka, making continuous contributions to improving the living standard of Sri Lankans. A total of 268,952 Chinese tourists came to Sri Lanka last year. This has given a tremendous boost to tourism here with the development of hotels, catering, tourism services and various related industries such as food and beverage, clothing, accommodation, transportation and featured products of neighbouring regions. These facts tell us that if China becomes better, Sri Lanka and the rest of the world will also become better,” he said. He said China’s development is beneficial to the international community and China stands ready to provide more goods to the world. He said the Belt and Road Initiative was an important initiative proposed by China to uphold and grow an open world economy. “Since 2013 when it was proposed, more than 80 countries and international organizations have signed cooperation agreements with China. From 2013 to 2017, the total value of China’s trade with other Belt and Road countries exceeded five trillion USD and total investment by Chinese enterprises in these countries exceeded 70 billion USD. Within three years, starting from 2018, China will provide 60 billion RMB worth of aid to developing countries and international organizations participating in the Belt and Road Initiative with a view to developing more projects to improve people’s livelihood,” the ambassador said.
Meanwhile, he said China will hold the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in November 2018.“This is the world’s first expo themed on import and is a major policy measure of China to further open its market to the world. Exhibitors from Sri Lanka will get the chance to present the charm of Sri Lanka to the huge consumption market of China at the expo,” he said.