China, Sri Lanka agree to deepen partnership
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E-mail Xinhua, September 17, 2014
Regarding international issues, Xi said China would continue to work with Sri Lanka to promote communication and coordination within the frameworks of multilateral organizations like the United Nations, so as to promote regional peace and development.
For his part, Rajapaksa thanked China for its longtime support and assistance to his country's development.
China's initiative of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road echoes with Sri Lanka's idea of building a maritime shipping center in the Indian Ocean, he said.
Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka is ready to work with China to execute such cooperative projects as the Hambantota Port Project and the Colombo Port City Project, speeding up the FTA negotiations and enhancing bilateral cooperation in economy and trade, energy, agriculture, infrastructure construction and health.
He said Sri Lanka is willing to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
After the talks, the two presidents watched the live-broadcast of the opening ceremony of the Lakvijaya thermal power plant built in Sri Lanka's northwest town of Norochcholai, which is expected to meet 45 percent of the total demands of the nation's power grid.
They also witnessed the signing of the Action Plan of the People' s Republic of China and the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to Deepen the Strategic Cooperative Partnership.
In the action plan, the two sides expressed their satisfaction with the outcomes of the joint feasibility study on the China-Sri Lanka FTA.
The two leaders welcomed the swap arrangement between the People' s Bank of China and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to promote financial cooperation and agreed to enhance the cooperation in customs and quarantine procedures, and quality inspection to facilitate trade, it said.
The Chinese government assures financing support for infrastructure and development projects agreed upon by both sides in Sri Lanka on preferential terms, according to the plan.
The two sides reaffirmed that terrorism, separatism, extremism have pose a serious threat to stability and security in the region and agreed to work together to combat these three forces within bilateral and multilateral frameworks.
The two sides agreed to further promote investment in the Magampura/Hambantota Port Project, enhance maritime cooperation and proceed with the construction of the Colombo Port City Project.
The sides pledged to tap the cooperation potential in tourism, expressed their pleasure to see the release of the documentary The Glamorous Sri Lanka, believing that this would help to attract more Chinese tourists to Sri Lanka.
President Xi arrived here earlier in the day for the first state visit to Sri Lanka by a Chinese head of state in 28 years.
He is expected to meet respectively with Sri Lankan Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne and Parliament Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa on Wednesday.
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