Chinese President Xi Jinping receiving President Mahinda Rajapaksa for official talks on 22nd May 2014 at Xijiao State Guest House in Shanghai.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, participating at the 4th Summit of Heads of State & Government of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) at the invitation of President Xi Jinping of China, stated that “for building peace and stability in a region, it is imperative that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our nations are secure.” This fundamental right of States is being violated. “With self-interests at the core, some external entities, using the guise of democracy, have sought to interfere in the domestic affairs of countries, resulting in de-stabilizing these nations and thereby even those regions.”
CICA is a multinational forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia and is based on the recognition that there is a close link between peace, security and stability in Asia and in the rest of the world. Presently, CICA has 24 Member States. 09 countries and 04 multinational organizations have Observer status. Sri Lanka became an Observer State of CICA in 2013.
The 4th CICA Summit was held in Shanghai, China from 20 – 21 May 2014 and China took over the Chairmanship from Turkey for the period 2014 to 2016.
President Rajapaksa, speaking further said that it is “indeed appropriate that Asia takes the lead in the settlement of any Asian affair, and CICA as a multilateral mechanism on security in Asia, should seek to engage appropriately on the proposals made by His Excellency the President of China towards this end.”
On the sidelines of the CICA Summit, President Rajapaksa held bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping. Having discussed an array of bilateral issues, both sides agreed to maintain high level exchanges, fast-track the launch of the Sri Lanka – China FTA negotiations, expand development assistance and investment, cooperate in the implementation of the Maritime Silk Route, associate with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank project and expand people to people exchanges between the two countries. President Xi Jinping appreciated and accepted the invitation extended by President Rajapaksa to visit Sri Lanka in the near future.
President Rajapaksa also held bilateral talks with President Mamnoon Hussain of Pakistan, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran and the UN Secretary General, Ban ki-Moon.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa was accompanied by the Minister of External Affairs, Prof. G.L. Peiris; Chief of Staff to the President, Gamini Senarath; Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs, Kshenuka Senewiratne, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to China Ranjith Uyangoda, the Consul General of Sri Lanka in Shanghai and senior officials of the Presidential Secretariat, Ministry of External Affairs of Sri Lanka and the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing.
Embassy of Sri Lanka
Beijing
24 May 2014
