Chairman Wu Bangguo of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) met with visiting Sri Lankan President Mrs. Kumaratunga in Beijing

On August 31, 2005, Chairman Wu Bangguo of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) and Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council met with visiting Sri Lankan President Mrs. Kumaratunga respectively.

Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council met with visiting Sri Lankan President Mrs. Kumaratunga in Beijing

Wu said that the friendly exchanges between the two peoples go back to ancient times. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, both sides have witnessed smooth development of bilateral relations, frequent exchanges of high-level visits and continuously strengthened mutual political trust. The cooperation in economy, trade and other areas has been steadily expanded and achieved remarkable effects and both sides have maintained communication and collaboration in international and regional affairs. He said that the parliamentary exchanges are an important part of bilateral friendly cooperative relations and the NPC of China would like to enhance exchanges and cooperation with the parliament of Sri Lanka at various levels and contribute to deepening mutual understanding and friendship between the people of both sides, pushing for bilateral cooperation in various areas and promoting the all-round development of bilateral relations.

Wen said that to develop the traditional friendly cooperation between the two sides is an important part of China's diplomacy with neighboring countries. This April, both sides established the "comprehensive cooperative partnership characterized by sincere mutual assistance and friendliness for generations", which has pushed the bilateral relations up to a new stage. It is hoped that both sides will keep closer cooperation so that the bilateral cooperative partnership can be embodied in various aspects of bilateral relations in a real sense. He added that China would actively encourage and support the Chinese businesses to participate in the economic development of Sri Lanka, expand cooperation with the Sri Lankan side in the areas of agriculture, infrastructure and development of energy and resources and take positive measures to alleviate the bilateral trade imbalance.

Mrs. Kumaratunga noted that this visit to China has scored a great success and a range of cooperation agreements signed between both sides are of great importance to the economic growth of Sri Lanka. Her country would like to make joint efforts with China to vigorously implement these agreements and bring more benefits to the two peoples. Sri Lanka supports the enhancement of parliamentary cooperation, promotion of friendship between the two peoples and further development of bilateral relations.