Partnerships from China with love
While China is sending the biggest-ever business delegation for the Commonwealth Leaders Summit in November, a more significant development is the creation of ‘strategic cooperation partnerships’ between the two countries to boost trade and investment.
Upping current China-Sri Lanka ties to a new level, the new partnership plan implies that Beijing accords very high priority to the bilateral relations including business ties for its vital interests in the region and globally, Sri Lankan Ambassador in China Ranjith Uyangoda said in an interview with the Business Times in Beijing this week.
It comes at a time when around 120 Chinese businessmen and investors will attending the November meeting in Colombo, according to Anura Siriwardena, Secretary to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, part of the Sri Lanka delegation attending a mega tourism promotion campaign in China.
He was informed of this development by the Chinese Business Council head during trade talks at the China World Hotel Beijing last Thursday.
Ambassador Uyangoda said that China has already identified the future economic and strategic potential of Sri Lanka through its fact finding missions and countrywide research being carried out constantly.
That is why China is offering its public and private sector assistance for massive infrastructure development projects in the island, he added. “We may also expect Chinese investments in Jaffna in the very near future,” he said adding that the two countries have decided to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
“Going by the pattern of China’s FTAs with the Southeast Asian countries, a high jump in Chinese-Sri Lankan trade could be expected soon,” he said.
A FTA has been agreed to in principle and joint committees are being appointed to bring this to fruition as quickly as possible, he asserted.
Some of Sri Lanka’s sophisticated industries including apparel/garments, tea, value added rubber, gems and jewellery, spices and light engineering products will get new opportunities under the agreement.
With a view to promote Sri Lanka tourism in China, a separate marketing division has been opened at the embassy, Mr. Uyangoda said adding that it is manned by a group of young Chinese girls and several Sri Lankans who are fully conversant in Sinhala and Chinese languages.
Some of these girls and boys are studying languages in Beijing universities and they work on an assignment basis, he disclosed. Chinese authorities are encouraging their youth to study Sinhala language as they have already identified the future potential of the island nation, he added.
Sherry Goa, Tourism Marketing Manager at the Sri Lankan Embassy in China noted that “Chinese tourists are the world’s biggest spenders but persuading them to visit your country isn’t always easy.”
Sri Lanka should promote eco tourism to attract high spending Chinese travellers and the country should offer pleasure and natures beauty during their leisure to lure them in a big way, she added.
According to the new strategic alliance, the two countries will maintain high-level exchanges, enhance political communication, and support each other’s efforts in safeguarding national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
China has emerged as the largest development aid provider to Sri Lanka in 2012 with a commitment of US $1.05 billion.
Chinese companies are involved in a number of infrastructure, communication and port development projects of strategic importance funded by Chinese loans.
Mr. Siriwardana, who attended the mega tourism promotion campaign “Sri Lanka shines in Beijing”, said that he held fruitful talks with around 50 top level businessmen in tourism and trade related fields during his stay in China.
He added that he has extended an invitation to most of these businessmen to visit Sri Lanka to build up contacts that would help their respective industries including tourism.
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