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.
This story is from the November 2023 edition of Business Today Sri Lanka.
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This story is from the November 2023 edition of Business Today Sri Lanka.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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