Lankan President to visit China this year

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will be visiting China later this year for a second time since assuming the office to further strengthen bilateral ties between both nations.

The announcement was made by the Vocational Training and Development Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, yesterday.

Asserting that Beijing has assisted Sri Lanka in a significant way during the recent natural disasters and donated a large shipment of goods, he said that Colombo 's growing relationship with the West will not be at the expense of China.

Reiterating Sri Lanka's commitment to long term partnership with China, he said that the President's visit will further strengthen the friendship between both the countries.

In recent years, China has emerged as one of Sri Lanka's key development partners.

President Sirisena visited Beijing in March last year at the invitation of China counterpart Xi Jinping.