Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena had a long discussion with Gong Seng, Mayor of Shanghai, on Friday (29) in Shanghai, China.

It was agreed to establish a strong relationship between Shanghai, China, which is ranked first among the world’s port cities, and the cities of Colombo and Hambantota, which have been planned to be developed as a maritime hub in the East and West shipping routes in the future.

A long time has passed since the Sister City Agreement between Colombo and Shanghai was signed, and the Prime Minister pointed out that further work can be carried out under this agreement, which was signed when his brother Prasanna Gunawardena was holding the post of Mayor.

It was emphasised that the city of Shanghai has handled 49.5 million containers in terms of cargo transportation, and last year it ranked first in cargo transportation in the world, and there are many lessons that can be learnt by Sri Lanka in the said sector.

The Mayor of Shanghai assured that the city of Shanghai, which has an annual production income of 4.72 trillion Yuan, and is also a first class business centre and a centre for financial transactions in the world, will share their experiences with Sri Lanka.

The Prime Minister pointed out that huge lessons can be learnt by Sri Lanka from the progress made in the planned urban development of the city of Shanghai, which has a population of 25 million people.

The Mayor of Shanghai expressed his agreement to support Sri Lanka in each of those fields and invited the officials of those fields to visit Shanghai and study the said fields.

The interest of the Chinese people to travel in Sri Lanka, which has many UNESCO heritage sites, has increased, and it was also agreed to explore the possibility of increasing the flights between Colombo and Shanghai.

A group including State Ministers Shehan Semasinghe, Ashoka Priyantha, and Secretary to the Prime Minister Anura Dissanayake participated in this event.