Chinese Ambassador Cheng Xueyuan, speaking at the Chinese National Day celebrations in Colombo said the number of Chinese tourists are expected to increase due to the friendly cooperation between China and Sri Lanka.
“There were more than 260,000 Chinese tourists to Sri Lanka in 2017 and this number is estimated to exceed 300,000 in 2018” he was quoted saying.
The Ambassador added that the Belt and Road Initiative has become the prime cause for the friendly cooperation between the two countries.
Speaking further he said that the Port City could become the new driving force of Sri Lanka’s development and the new financial centre of South Asia.
The Ambassador also added that China has officialy invited President Maithripala Sirisena to attend the opening ceremony of the China International Import Expo (CIIE). According to the ambassador, the CIIE is expected to promote Sri Lanka and its products to the Chinese thereby fostering a healthy relationship between the two nations.
Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and several members of the joint opposition attended the event.
A Sri Lankan man was apprehended at Suvarnabhumi airport for attempting to smuggle wildlife out of the country after three ball pythons were found hidden in his underwear, the Bangkok post reported.
The UK government has unveiled a package of reforms to simplify imports from developing countries which allows for more garments manufactured in Sri Lanka to enter the UK tariff-free.
Read these and more on tomorrow’s edition of the Sunday Times
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