The Sri Lankan government has said that it attaches great importance to relations with China and is willing to consolidate and deepen bilateral ties and cooperation in all areas.

The remarks were made by Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera on Friday when new Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Yi Xianliang called on him, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The two sides exchanged views on China-Sri Lanka bilateral ties and Yi also had frank exchange of views with Samaraweera on China- Sri Lanka economic and trade cooperation, especially the cooperation on major projects, the report further said.

During the discussions, Yi congratulated the successful visit by Samaraweera to China days ago and spoke highly of the profound traditional friendship between the two countries and the two peoples.

Yi stressed that China is committed to developing its relations with Sri Lanka and is ready to make joint efforts with Sri Lanka to strengthen the cooperation in various fields and the people to people exchanges so as to push the China-Sri Lanka strategic cooperative partnership to a new level.

The Sri Lankan foreign minister said that the Sri Lanka- China relationship has a long history, and the two countries enjoy time-tested friendship as good friends of all weather and true friends in need.

"The Sri Lankan government attaches great importance to it relations with China, and is willing to consolidate and deepen bilateral ties and cooperation in all areas. The Sri Lankan government will facilitate the Chinese ambassador's mission in Sri Lanka," Samaraweera added.
(with inputs from Xinhua)