Gevindu cites China as unwavering friend that Sri Lanka can never forget

By Saman Indrajith

China and its people had been unwavering friends of this nation since time immemorial and Sri Lankan people would never forget the role played by China as a true and genuine friend to help us to defeat the LTTE terrorism, SLPP MP Gevindu Cumaratunga told Parliament on Wednesday.

Participating in the debate on the Colombo Port City Economic Commission bill, Cumaratunge said the people of this country could learn from their counterparts in China on how a nation could sacrifice and work for a common goal to achieve victories for its people. “We can make use of such lessons to build our future. We must emulate the Chinese people’s ways and traditions of respecting their language, family and culture and the way they inculcate their heritage to build a future for them. We must be efficient in developing and improving our skills and efficiency the way the Chinese people did dedicatedly in order to stand up on their own feet.

“Our hope is that the Colombo Port city would be beneficial not only for China and Sri Lanka but also for the entire Asia. The port city would optimize the strategic geo location of this country in international trade in the future.

“We must be thankful to the President and the Ministers of the Cabinet for their action to rectify certain errors and some provisions in the draft bill which are not favourable to our national interests. One such shortcomings was that there was no sufficient outlining of minimum standards for the members to be appointed to the Colombo Port City Economic Commission. We appreciate the decision made by the Cabinet of Ministers on Tuesday (18) to ensure that the president of the commission shall be a Sri Lankan and the majority of the composition of the commission shall be Sri Lankan nationals,” the MP said.