The BRI and Sri Lanka's Future through the President's Lens

China’s third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation got underway in October 2023 after a three-year lull which saw leaders of the developed and developing world congregating in Beijing. This year’s forum was significant. It marked ten years of the initiative. The delegations held meaningful high-level discussions on the sidelines of the much-anticipated dialogue amid two significant conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, where the thrust was for sustainable development and multilateralism based on cooperation. Sri Lanka, like many in the Global South, is on board the BRI. President Ranil Wickremesinghe attended the forum in Beijing. He also met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People. On the sidelines of the BRI, the Sri Lankan President also spoke with Chinese media, in Colombo first, with the host of Leaders Talk, Li Tongtong of China Global Television Network. In a departure, the host spoke in Mandarin while the President responded in Sinhala, and in Beijing, Wickremesinghe sat with CGTN Host Tian Wei. In both instances, the Sri Lankan leader expressed his optimism about the initiative’s potential and prospects for development, his development agenda for Sri Lanka amid the debt and economic crises, and the criticality of pursuing trade and a sustainable development agenda.

- Jennifer Paldano Goonewardane.

The presence of President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was significant for many reasons. China is Sri Lanka’s biggest lender under the BRI; the island owes more than 52 percent of its external debt to China. As a precursor to the Belt and Road Forum and during the forum, Wickremesinghe faced Chinese media in Colombo and Beijing, where Sri Lanka’s top diplomat played his cards right, praising the win-win outcomes that the countries have reaped over years of cooperation and opined the potential of Belt and Road cooperation.

The BRI held its first two summits in 2017 and 2019, but the President noted that the 2023 forum was different as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the environment in which countries were meeting in Beijing. He said that the challenges and issues facing the world after the pandemic are new, and all the countries felt the impact on their economies. But their effects varied, with low and middle-income countries facing new challenges of debt and climate-related issues amid the intensification of old challenges. During his media meetups, Wickremesinghe pointed out that Sri Lanka has been the victim of an enormous debt burden, compounded by its inability to meet debt obligations, which many other countries are dealing with right now, with multilateral donor agencies increasing their engagement to arrive at a favorable solution lest those countries are thrust further into distress. He took over a battered country pushed against the wall in 2022 and has, in a span of a year, provided direction and hope for the future. Wickremesinghe expressed his confidence in the BRI to help countries like Sri Lanka find solutions to deal with its debt burden, pointing out that the BRI should focus on prevailing issues.