Lanka hopes to accelerate Chinese projects, says PM

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said his government will work with China to accelerate ongoing projects and attract more Chinese investment in order to promote economic and social development in the island country.In a recent discussion with Chinese ambassador to Sri Lanka Cheng Xueyuan, Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka had always strongly supported the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese embassy in Colombo said yesterday.The prime minister added that his government attached great importance to mega-projects co-operation with China, especially the Hambantota Port, the Industrial Park in southern Sri Lanka and the Colombo Port City in the capital.Ambassador Cheng reiterated that China wished to implement the important consensus reached by leaders of the two countries to actively push forward the practical co-operation under the Belt and Road Initiative, so as to bring tangible benefits to the two countries and peoples.China is willing to work with Sri Lanka to push forward the latter’s economic and social development, and promote a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win co-operation, the ambassador said.