The Consul General of Sri Lanka in Guangzhou, Priyangika Dharmasena was hosted for lunch by Guangdong Foreign Affairs office (Guangdong FAO) on 19 June 2019 at the ‘Government House’ in Guangzhou. The lunch was hosted to welcome the new Consul General. The Consul General met with Director General Chen Qiuyan, Deputy Director-General Luo Jun and other officials of the Guangdong FAO during the luncheon meeting.
Consul General Dharmasena took the opportunity to discuss matters relating to tourism, education, trade and the visa process for Sri Lankan businessmen. While conveying that Sri Lanka has regained normalcy after the Easter Sunday attacks and once again become safe for travel, the Consul General requested cooperation from Guangdong FAO in disseminating this information among relevant Chinese authorities.
The Consul General, while noting that there are 14 first level universities in the Guangdong province, specializing in fields including agriculture, medicine, technology and innovation, which have international colleges for foreign students, requested support in securing scholarships and exchange programmes for Sri Lankan students.
The Guangdong FAO said that they would facilitate meetings for the Consulate with relevant tourism and educational authorities, to discuss such matters.
The possibility of reducing the time to process the issuance of visas to Sri Lankan businessmen was also taken up with the Guangdong FAO officials. They agreed to relay the matter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing.
