Red Carpets ready for Chinese Premier
[17 May 2001]

The Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji will arrive in Colombo later today on a three-day official visit to strengthen the trade and economic ties between the two nations. 

A high powered delegation which includes eight ministers, will accompany the visiting Premier. Later, the Sri Lankan President will host a banquet in honour of the Chinese Prime Minister. 

He is also scheduled to meet the Opposition Leader and the Speaker of the Parliament.

Sino-Sri Lankan ties date back to the first century AD. Records show that during this period a Chinese Buddhist priest, Fa-Hsien, visited Sri Lanka.

The Chinese began exporting ceramics and silk to Sri Lanka as early as the Roman period or perhaps earlier. By the beginning of the ninth century there was brisk trade in these commodities. Shards of Chinese ceramics dating back to the ninth century have been found scattered along the coastline of Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsula. These are believed to be from ancient shipwrecks.

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