State Minister for Regional Co-operation Tharaka Balasuriya stated that the Colombo Port City is not only for Chinese investments but also open for any country that intends to invest in Sri Lanka.

He made these remarks during an observation tour to the Colombo Port City yesterday (08).

“We are glad that the Chinese are bringing their investments over here. We do regret that the previous government stopped the Port City project and it resulted a loss of about three hundred thousand dollars per day, for 1.4 billion investments which have been brought in. That is not a signal that we need to give to our investors. We need to ensure that their investments are protected. In the second stage, we plan on bringing about 13 billion worth of investments and creating around 80,000 jobs. So, I think this will no doubt transform the landscape of Colombo and Sri Lanka. We are very optimistic and we want to work in partnership with the Chinese government and Chines companies. Colombo Port City is not only for Chinese investments. It is for investments. So, any country that wants to bring in investments they can come over here. Certain type of the environment which the investors are looking will be created over here. So, I think this is definitely a step in the right direction."

Meanwhile, responding to query on U.S. sanctions on China, he expressed the following:

“Well, I don’t think the sanction will affect us. We are looking at it. The U.S. government recently banned TikTok and then Huawei. I don’t know whether this is the new world order or a new format of how things are done.  Sri Lanka believes in free trade. A sovereign country should have the right to trade with whoever they want to trade with. We want to ensure that our investors and the local parties are both taken care of and there will be a win-win situation through investments.”