Sri Lanka formally hands over Hambantota port to China
December 12 , 2017 2538 days 1146 0
Sri Lanka formally handed over the strategic southern port of Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease.
The lease is accordance to repay the $8 billion loan that the country owes to China.
China Merchants Port Holdings Company and the Sri Lanka ports Authority will own the port and the investment zone around the port.
The Sri Lankan government had signed a $1.1 billion deal in July to sell a 70 per cent stake in the Hambantota port to China.
The port city is twinned with Chinese city of Guangzhou since 2007.
Twin towns are a form of legal or social agreement between towns, cities, provinces, regions, states, and even countries in geographically and politically distinct areas.
It is intended to foster friendship and understanding between different cultures as an act of peace and reconciliation and to encourage trade and tourism.
Sri Lanka also assured that the strategic port Will not be used as a military base by any foreign country.