Sino-Lanka relations: Fostering a partnership for progress

Zhu Rui, Secretary-General of the Chinese People’s Association and the executive think tank team from Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD) are scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka on Monday 6 May. This visit is a practical outcome based on the Cooperation Memorandum between the Pathfinder Foundation (PF) and the CPAPD in July 2012.

Following the signing of this agreement, the PF facilitated a business development mission to China in January of this year. As a result of this, the CPAPD has organised a delegation comprising tour operators, a travel writer and investors in the hospitality sector to explore business opportunities. The delegation will be led by Zhu Rui. The CPAPD is the largest nationwide non-governmental peace and development association in China.

The overall objectives of the Cooperation Memorandum include investment, trade, tourism, technology transfer and education promotion as well as expanding cultural exchanges between the two countries through people-to-people contacts.

The Secretary-General’s visit to Colombo will provide PF and CPAPD an opportunity to have high level consultations on building further on the Cooperation Memorandum. In this connection, the two organisations will discuss the possibility of establishing an Eminent Persons’ Advisory Council to identify specific ways and means of achieving the objectives of their collaboration.