Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe celebrated the enduring friendship between Sri Lanka and China, reflecting on the historic Rubber-Rice Pact’s continued influence on contemporary collaboration between the two nations decades after its expiration.
The Rubber-Rice Pact was signed in December 1952, allowing China to exchange its surplus rice for much-needed rubber, which Sri Lanka saw as a key export.
“The Rubber-Rice Pact is very important because it was the first bilateral agreement signed after Sri Lanka gained independence. It’s especially significant as it was signed with an Asian country, a developing nation. The Rubber-Rice Pact played a crucial role in promoting Sri Lanka’s economic development. Through mutual assistance, we both overcame difficulties. Sri Lanka needed rice, and China needed rubber. The agreement was effective until the 1980s, when Sri Lanka implemented open economic policies. Almost simultaneously, China began implementing its open economic policies, and our bilateral relations entered a new phase. The Rubber-Rice Pact serves as an excellent example, helping Sri Lanka realize it should strive to sign trade agreements with every country,” he added.
Wickremesinghe said that to continue the legacy of the pact, Sri Lanka embraced the Belt and Road Initiative, a wide-reaching connectivity expansion strategy that was proposed by China in 2013.
“To carry forward the spirit of the Rubber-Rice Pact, we joined the Belt and Road Initiative. This cooperation isn’t limited to Sri Lanka and China but extends to many countries worldwide, with whom China has trade agreements. Our collaboration encompasses not just trade but also infrastructure and investment. Participating in the Belt and Road Initiative is a good beginning for us and a direction we will continue to focus on,” he said.
(Input from Reuters)