Sri Lankan President Dissanayake wraps up four-day visit to China

Beijing: China on Friday said the visit of Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake here has deepened the strategic ties between the two countries as he wrapped up his four-day visit with a tour of Sichuan province.

China and Sri Lanka reached important common understandings on deepening the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a media briefing here.

He said the two sides signed an agreement on the Belt and Road cooperation plan besides multiple documents on bilateral cooperation after Dissanayake’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday.

The MOUs included the export of agricultural products to China, people’s livelihood, and news and broadcasting, among others, he said.

However, he made no reference to an agreement to build USD 3.7 billion oil refinery project by Chinese firm Sinopec at Hambantota which was announced on Thursday by Sri Lanka coinciding with Dissanayake’s visit.

Gua said China attaches high importance to its ties with Sri Lanka in the neighbourhood diplomacy and the two countries have a historic opportunity to build on what has been achieved and take the relationship to the next chapter.

Meanwhile, Dissanayake wrapped up his visit, his second trip abroad after his maiden visit to India last month where he assured the Indian leadership of not allowing Sri Lankan territory to be used against India’s security interests.

On the last day of his visit, Dissanayake visited Sichuan province where he held talks with the provincial ruling Communist Party leader Wang Xiaohui and invited more Chinese tourists to visit Sri Lanka, an official press release issued in Colombo said.