25 February 2021 07:12 pm
State Minister of Money, Capital Markets and Public Enterprise Reforms Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal who participated in bilateral meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said today that Pakistan was keen to invest in the Colombo Port city.
The State Minister told the Daily Mirror the two sides discussed a wide range of areas for bilateral cooperation and investment promotion.
“Pakistan is keen to invest in the Port City. They will have talks with the Port City authorities separately,” he said.
At a joint presser with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Pakistani leader proposed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a point for Sri Lanka to connect with the Central Asian region. The CPEC is the flagship project of China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI). The Colombo port city is the largest Chinese investment in Sri Lanka.
Besides, Mr. Cabraal said Sri Lanka would explore the possibility of attracting tourists from Pakistan.
“It is a country with 220 million people. Of this population, two per cent belong to the super-rich category. Ten per cent each belong to the upper-middle and middle-class categories. We can tap this market for tourism. We need travellers,” he said.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan will organize joint sports activities.
“There will be more and more cricketing interacts between the two countries. Teams under different age categories will play,” he said. (Kelum Bandara)