China’s State Council’s Development Research Centre’s (DRC) Vice President, Dr. Long Guoqiang open the office of Pathfinder Foundation’s ‘China-Sri Lanka Cooperation Studies Centre’ (CSLCSC) at the ‘Riverpoint’ complex of MMBL-Pathfinder group at Peliyagoda on Friday.
A high-level Chinese delegation and Chinese Embassy senior officials participated in the event.
Pathfinder Foundation (PF) founder Milinda Moragoda welcomed the invitees.
The Foundation, an advocacy and research think-tank functioning since 2006, has three Centres focusing on China-Sri Lanka relations, India-Sri Lanka relations and Law of the Sea. The China and the India centres focus on developing relations with those two countries, while the Centre for Law of the Sea pays its attention to issues relating to the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and ‘Blue Economy’.
The visiting delegation had discussions with the founder of PF and its senior staff members on ‘Cooperation between China and Sri Lanka in developing production capacity within the framework of BRI’. Both sides exchanged views on promoting and facilitating Chinese investment, establishing and operating industrial parks and formulating policies to strengthen bilateral cooperation.
The State Council’s Development Research Centre (DRC) is a policy research and consulting institution under the Chinese government. Its major function is to conduct advanced research on comprehensive strategic and long-term issues in economic and social development, as well as key issues relating to reforms and opening up, provide policy options and consulting advice to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council.
Founder Moragoda said PF worked for over ten years playing a role in advocating economic reforms, opening up of the economy and developing bilateral track II relations with countries such as China, India and the USA, and promoting dialogue and exchanges with several other countries. He highlighted the role played by the CSLCSC to further bilateral relations.
Moragoda stressed the need to learn from the Chinese experience in such areas as State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) restructuring, increasing efficiency of agriculture and the public service and means of developing industrial capacity for exports.
Dr. Long explained the structure of the DRC and establishment of the Centre for International Knowledge Development (CIKD) under its purview for sharing Chinese knowledge and experience in economic development. The Centre has been established to promote global sustainable development through development knowledge.