Chinese investment in Sri Lanka is reviving a ‘3,000-5,000-year-old shipping route,’ said Foreign Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake, defending the government’s decision to join the Belt and Road Initiative.
“The fact is that regional trade needs to move forward. If one country is doing a project, that is not against another country,” said Minister Karunanayake to journalists at the end of his two-day visit to New Delhi. “Like Hong Kong was a launching pad for China, Sri Lanka would like to be a hub of economic activity for India,” he added. Karunanayake said Colombo hoped for similar investments from India and Japan and would welcome Indian investment in the “East Terminal” of the Colombo Port; one of two new container terminals to be built in the next phase of the Chinese-built harbour project. Five consortiums including two with Indian companies, Container Corporation of India and Shapoorji Pallonji Ltd, are reported to have filed bids for the project in 2016.
He said that in his talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, he had expressed the desire for an early resolution to the fishermen issue and ‘bottom-trawling’ by Indian fishermen in the Sri Lankan waters. - The Hindu