Sri Lanka, China sign six agreements to enhance co-operation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 June 2010, 19:32 GMT]
The governments of Sri Lanka and China Friday signed six agreements to enhance the co-operation in the spheres of technology, industry, information technology and construction, according to the officials of Mahinda Rajapaksa government in Colombo. Acting Ports and Aviation Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena and Chinese Transport Minister Lin Shenjin signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development of maritime ports. The second phase of the Hambantota Port will commence under this agreement and the Chinese Government will provide a loan of US $600m which is payable within 20 years, the sources further said.

A certificate of donation by ZTE Corporation of China was also presented to Hambantota District Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa by ZTE Corporation Chairman Hou Weei. This grant of US $500,000 would be utilized for the promotion of IT literary among the youth community in Sri Lanka.

The event took place at the office of the Prime Minister and in the presence of the Prime Minister D.M.Jayaratne and the visiting Chinese Vice Prime Minister Zhan Dejiang.

Finance Ministry Secretary Dr P.B. Jayasundera and Chinese Assistant Commerce Minister Wang Chao signed two agreements pertaining to the maintenance of the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) which is a donation by the Government of China.

Road Development Authority (RDA) Chairman Ranjith Premasiri and National Technical Import and Export Corporation in China President Tang Yi signed an agreement on behalf of the two sides for the construction of the last stage of the Southern Expressway from Pinnaduwa to Godagama.

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