Will make ‘maximum effort to fulfill Sri Lanka’s needs’ - China’s Foreign Minister tells Prof. GL

Sri Lanka, having rid itself of terrorism and embarked on the course of accelerated economic development with determination, should receive the support of the international community in achieving its objectives, China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi has told Sri Lankan Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris in Beijing.

He added that China, for her part, would make the maximum effort to fulfill Sri Lanka’s needs as the country addresses itself to the task of attempting to use its natural strengths to improve the lives of its citizens, with the dawn of peace and stability.

Countries big and small have their own problems, and it is important to remember that solutions have to be found to suit the circumstances of each situation in keeping with the wishes of the country in question without hectoring or pressure from outside, he said.

Prof. Peiris informed China’s Foreign Minister that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa had held its first public sitting on the previous day and commenced its work. It is of the utmost importance that the Commission should receive every encouragement from the international community to begin and continue its work, Minister Peiris observed.

Thanking Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi for China’s generous assistance with regard to infrastructure development in Sri Lanka, Minister Peiris said that Sri Lanka was proud of her achievement in securing a growth rate of 7% in respect of her economy. President Mahinda Rajapaksa considered it even more important to ensure that the benefits of this development should be enjoyed equitably throughout the Island, especially in the rural sector, the Minister added.

From this perspective, Sri Lanka particularly appreciates China’s role in contributing massively to the development of ports and harbours, highways and other infrastructure facilities in regions of the Island which had hitherto been relatively neglected, Prof. Peiris said.

In an address delivered to the China Institute of International Studies, which was attended by leading members of the diplomatic community and representatives of local as well as international media in Beijing, Prof. Peiris explained Sri Lanka’s experience in defeating terrorism and putting the country on the fast track of economic development and national reconciliation.

The Minister also addressed a largely attended Investment Forum at the Shangri-La Kerry Centre in Beijing for leading entrepreneurs of China, co-hosted by the Embassy of Sri Lanka and the China Chamber of Commerce for Export & Import of Machinery and Electronics.