Photo taken on Nov. 22, 2017 shows the scene of an official handover ceremony of Chinese rice in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka on Tuesday thanked the Chinese government for donating 1,000 tonnes of rice for the drought struck victims in the island country. (Xinhua/Ajith Perera)
COLOMBO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka on Tuesday thanked the Chinese government for donating 1,000 tonnes of rice for the drought struck victims in the island country.
Disaster Management Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, speaking at the official handover ceremony of the rice, said Sri Lanka had this year experienced the worst drought in recent years with over 1 million people affected in 11 districts.
He said most of the lands affected were agricultural lands which could not continue to be used for agricultural purposes now.
He said China had been prompt in helping Sri Lanka and said this donation further strengthened the strong friendship between the two countries.
"We have come to know that in many occasions when we need help, the Chinese government has always helped us. China has always delivered everything on time and they have helped us to overcome a lot of difficulties," Yapa said.
The minister further said China had also assisted victims of the recent landslide disaster in Sri Lanka and conveyed his gratitude on behalf of the government.
Speaking at the ceremony, Austin Fernando, secretary to President Maithripala Sirisena, said that when the drought initially struck many districts, 576,000 families were affected and later, the number going up to 800,000 families.
"It was the government's responsibility to support these people. Therefore we thought we had to tap all the sources to see who could help us," Fernando said.
Fernando added that China had always assisted Sri Lanka in time of need and appreciated this strong friendship.
Sri Lanka has been suffering one of its worst droughts in 40 years due to a delay in monsoonal rains and poor rainfall in the drought affected areas.
China's Ambassador to Sri Lanka Yi Xianliang said the Chinese government and its people would always continue to assist the island country.
This donation has been made in a year which marks the 65th anniversary of signing of the rubber and rice pact, Ambassador Yi said.
He said China would in total donate 2,700 tonnes of rice for the drought victims and while the first 1,000 tonnes had arrived on Tuesday, two more shipments would arrive later.
