China provides Sri Lanka a grant of Rs. 16.5 Bn; Chinese Embassy in Colombo

Colombo (News 1st); An Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, providing 600 million RMB yuan (Rs. 16.5 billion) in grant assistance, was signed by Wang Xiaotao, Chairman of China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) and S.R. Attygalle, Treasury Secretary of the Ministry of Finance of Sri Lanka, said the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka. It added the signing took place on the sidelines of Former Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi’s visit to the island nation. on the 09th of October. The statement said both President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa extended their sincere appreciation on behalf of the Sri Lankan Government and people to the Chinese side for this urgently-needed assistance. Mutually agreed by both sides, the timely grant from the Chinese Government and her people will be utilized with a high priority on medical care, education and water supply etc in rural areas of Sri Lanka, so as to contribute to the well-beings of her people in a post-COVID era, said the Chinese Embassy. Besides, during the meeting between. Yang Jiechi, member of Political Bureau of CPC and Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, they also went through other Chinese grant projects such as the National Nephrology (Kidney Disease) Hospital in Polonnaruwa and the new Out-Patient Department (OPD) of National Hospital in Colombo and expressed their satisfaction on the good progress despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it added.