Sri Lanka has called on more Chinese investors to invest in the island country, saying that China had invested more than $52m dollars in the country in 2016 alone.

Speaking at the China-Sri Lanka Infrastructure Investment Co-operation Forum in Colombo, Commerce and Industry Minister Rishard Bathiudeen said that in 2016, Sri Lanka received foreign direct investment (FDI) of $801mn.

Bathiudeen said mega Chinese projects such as the recently signed $1.1bn Hambantota Port agreement between the Sri Lanka Ports Authority and China Merchants Port Holdings and the $1.4bn Colombo Financial City project were immensely beneficial for the island country.

He said there were many other Chinese FDI projects in Sri Lanka including in the textile and apparel, fisheries and manufacturing sectors.

“Tourism is another attractive sector since Chinese tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka doubled from year to year. Therefore today I invite the potential Chinese investors to invest in Sri Lanka and partner with us,” Bathiudeen said.

Statistics from China’s ministry of commerce showed total trade volume between China and Sri Lanka reached $4.4bn. That is a 363% increase in comparison to a decade back in 2007, which stood at $965mn. (Gulf Times)