Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to visit Sri Lanka, assistance package likely

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Sri Lanka on January 12 and 13, on his way back from a tour of Africa, the Daily Mirror learns.     

He is expected to meet his counterpart Vijitha Herath and call on President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya. He is likely to announce an assistance package for Sri Lanka in the post-disaster rebuilding efforts.

In Africa, he will visit Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania and Lesotho upon invitation.

Africa has been the destination for a Chinese Foreign Minister's first overseas trip of the year for 36 consecutive years.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, will also attend the launch ceremony for the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges at the African Union Headquarters, according to the Chinese media.