The
city of Shanghai is linked to our administrative capital
of Colombo. Therefore, I am pleased to address you in
Shanghai.
The majority of the Chinese who immigrated
to Sri Lanka live in Colombo. Some have already become
traditional entrepreneurs. You will be surprised to
hear that some streets in Colombo are almost solely
reserved for Chinese restaurants. Therefore, I am glad
to say that those Chinese are more familiar with Colombo
than Shanghai.
The friendship between us is not
of recent origin. It is a long historical bond. We still
remember how we signed an agreement with China in the
1950s when there was a scarcity of rice in Sri Lanka.
We obtained rice from China and in return supplied rubber
necessary for industries in your country. Therefore,
we Sri Lankans are a nation with good experience in
such transactions, and our two nations have experience
in good economic transactions.
Already a large number of Chinese
investors are successfully investing in Sri Lanka. These
include nearly 15 key commercial projects under the
Board of Investment law and 39 projects under the ordinary
law.
The total value of these investments
exceeds Rs. 6000m. Small scale enterprises and other
Chinese enterprises are also found in Sri Lanka.
I should tell that we too have entered
the development path that helped China to emerge strong.
Abandoning the wrong path followed by us since independence
and correctly understanding the trends of history, at
the last Presidential Election we obtained a mandate
from the people for the policy of developing the country
by developing the village. China took development from
village to city. Therefore, there is no difference between
the policy that China followed for development, and
the path we have taken today.
We have already allocated a large
percentage of our budgetary provisions to accelerate
the development of roads, electricity, education and
technology in rural areas. We would like the various
investors of the world to identify Sri Lanka as being
good for infrastructure development.
Having successfully emerged from
the tsunami disaster, our objective is to harness our
ocean resources. Our ocean economic zone is eight times
larger than our land. We are confident that research
into our ocean resources will bring many dividends.
China's rise was due to self sufficiency
in agriculture. When confronted with world food scarcities
and world crises, the Chinese people never starved because
they had faith in self sufficiency in food. I must tell
you that because we have given priority to agriculture,
particularly to paddy cultivation, the productivity
in our agricultural sector is increasing from year to
year. We are venturing into agro equipment and food
processing industries as well, which could bring rich
dividends.
Free education has produced a very
strong labour force. By now the literacy rate in Sri
Lanka is as high as 90. 7%. In 2007 a batch 15, 000
students will be admitted to universities and annually
another 2, 000 students are admitted to technical colleges.
By now 36 technical schools have been established to
expand technical education. The technological training
of school leavers is enhanced through technical institutes
and institutes of higher technology. Due to the education
and vocational training imparted by these institutes
we have a skilled labour force employable in any establishment
of the world.
The certificates obtained by them
by serving in many countries of the world are excellent.
There is a good demand for them in foreign countries
because they are equipped with modern knowledge and
abilities.
Similarly, through our 10 Year Development
Plan, the development in areas such as highways, electricity,
monetary services, and educational facilities will be
accelerated. I need not elaborate on that matter, as
the Chinese government itself has witnessed this. China
has undertaken the momentous task of constructing the
Norochcholai thermal electricity plant and pledged to
fund the Hambantota harbour project.
Therefore, it appears to me that
the time has come to increase investments by Chinese
nationals in our country.
The door is open for you to invest
in electricity, electronic goods, highways, infrastructure,
light engineering equipment, agro and aquatic enterprises,
motor vehicles, motor cycles, three-wheeler assembling
and development and communication projects. Our business
community has firm confidence in Chinese investors who
are rising rapidly and their bold commitment is an inspiration
to us.
I should say that the doors
of the silk route that were open are by now open again
in the same way as before. Just as the Chinese traders
of the past were trading even in the remote areas of
Sri Lanka, some modern Chinese entrepreneurs have established
garment factories in country today. I respectfully request
you to come and join them.
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