On July 11, 2021, the Sri Lanka Economic and Investment Conclave 2021 and the opening ceremony of the Sri Lanka Platform were held at the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing, China. The event was hosted by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in China and organized by Hairong (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. Participants in this event included representatives from more than 50 companies, including MCC, Enfi Group, CMEC, Conch Group, Huadian Group, and JD, as well as media reporters.

Dr. Palitha T. B. Kohona, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to China, Mr. Xu Xiangchun, Vice President of MCC, Mr. Pan Guanjun, General Manager of Hailong (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. and Chiranjaya, President of China Sri Lanka Association for Trade and Economic Cooperation, delivered speeches respectively. Ambassador Kohona said that Sri Lanka is a beautiful and friendly country with good investment opportunities, rich tourism resources, and many special products. He hoped that with the launch of the Sri Lanka Platform, the economic and trade cooperation between China and Sri Lanka will be promoted, more Sri Lankan products will enter the huge Chinese market, and more Chinese friends will be attracted to visit Sri Lanka for vacation and investment. Mr. Xu Xiangchun, Vice President of China Metallurgical Group said that Metallurgical Group has been cultivating in Sri Lanka for many years and expressways are one of their masterpieces. The next goal is to jointly invest in Sri Lanka’s mineral sands project with Hairong Group. He hopes that the project will be completed soon. Mr. Pan Guanjun, General Manager of Hairong Technology Co., Ltd introduced the project overview of the Sri Lanka Platform. He said that as the main operator of the center, he will be determined and courageous to write a new chapter in international cooperation under the “Belt and Road” initiative. Mr. Chiranjaya, President of China Sri Lanka Association for Trade and Economic Cooperation, expressed his warm congratulations on the opening ceremony of the center on behalf of the Association. At the same time, he expressed that he would encourage relevant Sri Lankan enterprises and suppliers to collaborate with the Sri Lanka Platform to bring high-quality Sri Lankan products into the Chinese market.

The major part of this event was the opening ceremony of the Sri Lanka platform. Dr. Palitha Kohorna, Sri Lanka ambassador to China, and Mr. Pan Guanjun, General Manager of Hairong (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. jointly unveiled the medal of Sri Lanka Platform.

During the Q&A session, Mr. Pan Liang, Chairman of Hairong Group, participated in the dialogue. He believed that we could focus on five aspects of investments in Sri Lanka at present. The first is tourism. Sri Lanka has rich tourism resources but lacks development of basic construction, including related facilities and services. The second is agriculture, the north area of Sri Lanka is a plain area, but there is a serious water shortage, desalination of seawater should be considered to develop high value-addition crops planting industry, such as medicinal herbs, fruit, and vegetables. The third is the fishery industry, Sri Lanka is rich in marine resources and can develop Pelagic fishing (such as tuna, etc.) and offshore farming (such as shrimp, crab, etc.). Fourthly, industrial parks. Sri Lanka is in a strategic location and has bilateral trade agreements with many countries on favorable terms, and Chinese enterprises can take advantage of this to move businesses to Sri Lanka. The fifth is the infrastructure, especially green energy, the Sri Lanka government is strongly promoting photovoltaic power generation and wind power generation.

During the dinner, many guests performed wonderful programs to cheer everyone up, and the whole event was held in a warm and cheerful atmosphere.