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Friday Nov 15, 2024
Thursday, 16 March 2017 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Uditha Jayasinghe
The Government is to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for investment and cooperation on production capacity with its Chinese counterpart to boost investment opportunities between the two countries.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China will sign the agreement with the Development Strategies and International Trade Ministry. The Cabinet-approved agreement will come as part of the MoU on comprehensive implementation of the Investment, Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement signed during Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to China in April 2016.
The proposed MoU with NDRC on investment and cooperation on production capacity covers specific areas on indentifying business entities as principal participants, fostering strategic cooperation between parties, market orientation and operations abided by commercial norms and conforming to international conventions. Therefore the MoU can be identified as broadly complementary to the MoU signed previously.
Furthermore, it includes priority areas, projects and investment on production capacity and ways and means to widen cooperation, said the Cabinet paper submitted by Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama.
“These will be complementary to the current initiatives of the Government on positive rearrangement with the global economy through FDI, joint ventures and other forms of cooperation. In this context, cooperation with NDRC, being the main policymaking body and apex authority in China, with broader administrative and planning control, will be immensely beneficial for the ongoing development initiatives of the Sri Lankan Government,” the Cabinet paper noted.
The MoU is expected to smoothen hurdles between the two countries when attracting investment to the proposed Hambantota investment zone and other projects, State Minister of International Trade Sujeewa Senasinghe told reporters at the weekly Cabinet briefing.
“The Chinese envoy has assured us that the Chinese Government will encourage billions in investment in Hambantota over the next few years and this MoU is to smoothen the investment process,” he said.
