At the invitation of the Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAFIU), a 15-member Sri Lankan NGO delegation composed of members from Sri Lanka-China Friendship Association（SLCFA）, Association for Sri Lanka-China Social and Cultural Cooperation (ASLCSC), Sri Lanka-China Society and Sri Lanka Association for International Exchanges visited China from April 20-29. All of the four organizations have established relationship with CAFIU at earlier dates and they all paid high attention to this visit. Among them, SLCFA and ASLCSCC delegates were led by their presidents, Mr. Goonatilleke and Mr.Abeysekera. Most of the members have been to China before and have various links with China. Some had worked in China for several years, while others have their children studying in China. The delegation visited Beijing, Shaanxi and Yunnan successively, deepening their understanding of China’s culture and history as well as the ongoing social economic development.

 

CAFIU Secretary-General Ni Jian and Deputy Secretary-General Liu Kaiyang had in-depth exchanges of ideas with the delegation on China’s social economic development as well as China-Sri Lanka bilateral relations. Sri Lankan friends admire China’s rapid development, saying they would like to further promote the development of bilateral development and also giving their pertinent advice and suggestions. CAFIU invited experts from the Chinese Academy of Governance and China Institute of Contemporary International Relations to have discussions with the delegation members on Rule of Law and the “Belt and Road” initiative. As one of the hottest topics the “Belt and Road” initiative attracted high attention of the delegation. They exchange views on questions such as in what ways will the initiative influence China-Sri Lanka bilateral relations and how could Sri Lankan people benefit from it, etc..

 

Apart from discussions, the delegation paid a visit to the Palace Museum. Since most of the delegations I received before were composed of people from different countries, renting the English automatic guide devices would surely meet the demands of the tour. When I was about to rent English devices as usual, Mr. Abeysekera reminded me that I could rent the Sinhala guide devices instead. He then explained that the Sinhala interpretation was recorded by him before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. So under the guidance of Mr. Abeysekera, the delegation toured around the Museum. Such an interesting experience, which I think, left them with a deep impression.

 

Having concluded the visit in Beijing, the delegation moved to Shaanxi to experience Chinese culture there. The Famen Temple is renowned around the world for consecrating Sakyamuni’s finger relics. Sri Lanka is a nation that worships Buddhism. When entering the Relic Pagoda, the atmosphere became solemn instantly. All of them had their palms together devotedly and started reciting Buddhist scriptures the moment when they saw the finger relic. The power of religious belief burst in at the moment, which was a great shock for me.

 

Promoting practical cooperation was the main task in Yunnan. When calling on Yunnan Provincial Department of Commerce, Yunnan Provincial Commission on Development and Reform, the delegation had exchanges of opinions on tourism, commerce, medical cooperation with Yunnan counterparts, expressed their incentive of cooperation and reached lots of consensus.

 

The Sri Lankan friends said they had learned a lot. At the summary meeting towards the end of the visit, Mr. Abeysekera said, the visit provides them with not only an opportunity to understand China comprehensively, which enables them to visit Beijing, Shaanxi and Yunnan to experience different cultures there and the status quo of Sri Lanka-China economic, commerce and tourism cooperation, but also an opportunity for the Sri Lankan organizations to better understand each other. If the Sri Lankan organizations themselves could not understand each other well, how could it be possible for them to promote Sri Lanka-China friendship. Though in plain words, it conveys the sincere hope for building consensus to jointly promote Sri Lanka-China friendship.

  

The ten-day trip also offered us a chance to know about each other. All of us are working towards the same goal of China-Sri Lanka friendship. The elder generation could trace their first visit to China back to the early beginning of reform and opening-up. Mr. Goonatelleke is one of them. Even by today, he could remember vividly those people he met in his first visit. As witnesses of China-Sri Lanka friendship, they have great respect for those forerunners who strived to promote the bilateral relations. They have been paying attention to China and are delighted to see the dramatic changes taking place here, therefore cherish their relationships with China even more. They are acutely aware of the urgent need to pass on the torch of friendship to the younger generation by organizing photo exhibition, knowledge contest to introduce China to more youngsters, hoping more and more young people will join the team to carry forward Sri Lanka-China friendship.

 

By receiving Sri Lankan NGO delegation, CAFIU not only makes a summary of its relations with counterpart organizations in Sri Lanka, but also charted course for the future relation between them, reaching the goal of promoting understanding through in-depth exchanges.