Prime Minister and delegation in China to enhance bilateral relations

April 07, 2016 (LBO) –  Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe left for an official visit to China on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said.

This is Wickremesinghe’s first visit as the prime minister to China since the government of President Maithripala Sirisena was formed in January last year.

On the April 6-9 visit, he will be holding high-level discussions with Chinese leaders to advance bilateral relations to a new level, his office said.

“The Sri Lankan PM will be negotiating the 125 million US dollar penalty that a Chinese state firm is seeking for suspending work on a big port development project,” a media report said.

The island new government elected in January 2015 ordered a review of the 1.4 billion US dollar Colombo port city project last year, citing irregularities in the award of the contract to state-owned China Communication Construction Company (CCCC) by a previous government.

However last month, the government gave the go ahead  to resume work on the port city.

Wickremesinghe’s delegation includes Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Minister of Development Strategies & International Trade Malik Samarawickrema among others.