1. Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Economic and Physical Plans Mahindananda Aluthgamage says his Committee has identified the reasons for the shortfall of 15% of Govt Revenue this year amounting to Rs.500 bn: asserts a Committee of officials will be established to monitor the Inland Revenue Dept, SL Customs and Excise Dept, since the reduction in tax is due to the inefficiency & corruption of bureaucrats, and the absence of properly developed systems at the 3 institutions.
2. Bloomberg reports that some Committee members on the Committee of SL’s Official Creditors push for a deal to restructure SL’s debt without China: want the group of major creditors, including US, Japan & India, to sign a MOU with Sri Lanka.
3. Public Utilities Commission decides to call for public views and proposals on the proposed Electricity Tariff Hike, which is to be effective from October’23.
4. Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera advises the Animal Production and Health Department to start research to introduce 2 species of cattle & goats suitable for SL in order to increase the production of milk & meat: says one of the main reasons affecting the increase in livestock production in SL is the lack of suitable animals for the respective products.
5. General Manager, Railways says there are “productive solutions” to prevent elephants being run over by trains: laments that the lack of funds has caused the delay of implementing these measures: meanwhile, 4 elephants killed on Wednesday (27) after being knocked down by the night mail train from Colombo to Kankesanthurai.
6. Govt expenditure for the year 2024 estimated at Rs.3,860 bn, as per the Appropriation Bill.
7. Govt Ayurvedic Medical Officers’ Assn Media Secretary Dr Indunil Jayasinghe says about 100 Ayurvedic doctors have already left the country with a significant fraction anticipating to migrate: the GAMOA also says the Govt has no sustainable solution at present, and that there is a demand for Ayurvedic doctors in New Zealand, Canada, Germany, UK and Australia.
8. SriLankan Airlines says several flights were cancelled due to “technical issues” over the last few days & every effort is being made to accommodate passengers on alternative flights: also says these are “routine issues”, and aircraft maintenance follows very strict procedures which necessitate repairs or replacement of parts before an aircraft is cleared for flying.
9. Prosecutors in Nagoya, Japan say they have decided not to charge officials at an Immigration Center in the city over the 2021 death of a Sri Lankan detainee, Wishma despite her family’s repeated calls for them to be indicted: the lawyer representing the family says the prosecutors “covered up & disregarded a crime committed by those in power”: vows to continue to fight.
10. Jaswar Umar elected President of the Sri Lanka Football Federation at the election for office bearers: polls 45 votes while his rival Thilanga Dakshitha polled 20.
Chinese Ambassador to Colombo, Qi Zhenhong, reiterated China’s steadfast commitment to supporting Sri Lanka in pursuing a development path that aligns with its national conditions, enabling the country to overcome poverty and foster non-development obstacles.
Ambassador Qi emphasized that China warmly welcomes all nations, including Sri Lanka, to participate in China’s developmental endeavors. Despite China’s significant contribution to global growth, with a share exceeding 30 percent in the past decade, the country remains the world’s most extensive developing nation with a population exceeding 1.4 billion.
Furthermore, Ambassador Qi urged all countries to uphold mutual respect, seek common ground while preserving differences, and collaborate to address contemporary challenges. He emphasized the importance of creating a shared future for humanity and working collectively to overcome global challenges.
Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals are expected to top 1.5 million in 2023, Chairman of Sri Lanka’s Tourism Development Authority Priyantha Fernando said.
Sri Lanka welcomed its millionth tourist for the year on September 26.
“Looking at the targets we had set for 2023, we are ahead of targets,” Fernando said at an event marking World Tourism Day.
“We have achieved one million tourists up to now.”
An initial target for 1,550,000 tourists set for 2023 will be exceeded, he said.
In April 2023, officials said they were planning to revise the arrival target to 2.0 million for 2023, based on strong first quarter arrivals.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization cited its own tourism barometer on the global tourism sector in May and said that international arrivals reached 80 percent of pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of 2023.
In 2023, an estimated 235 million tourists across the world travelled internationally for the first three months.
“International tourism is well on its way to returning to pre-pandemic levels, with twice as many people travelling during the first quarter of 2023 than in the same period of 2022,” the body said in a statement.
In the first 20 days of September Sri Lanka welcomed 75,222 tourists, according to official data.
Up to August 2023 Sri Lanka was estimated to have earned 1,304 million US dollars from tourism, up 56 percent from a year earlier according to tourism survey data.
Fernando said the sector hoped to the largest foreign exchange earner for the economy by 2027.
UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili in a statement released in May said, “International tourism receipts grew back to hit the USD1 trillion mark in 2022, growing 50 percent in real terms compared to 2021, driven by the important rebound in international travel. International visitor spending reached 64 percent of pre-pandemic levels (-36 percent compared to 2019, measured in real terms).”
The UNWTO Panel of Experts claimed the economic situation to be the main wavering factor affecting international tourism in 2023, with high inflation and rising oil prices translating into higher transport and accommodation costs.
The Meteorological Department of Sri Lanka has issued a warning indicating that the current showery weather pattern in the southwestern part of the island is expected to persist. Showers or thundershowers are forecasted in intervals in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, and North-western provinces, as well as in the Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts.
Certain areas in the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces, as well as Galle, Matara, and Puttalam districts, may experience fairly heavy showers, with accumulations reaching around 75mm. In the Northern province and Anuradhapura district, a few showers are anticipated.
Additionally, fairly strong winds at speeds of about (40-45) kmph are expected intermittently in the western slopes of the central hills, Northern, North-central, and North-western provinces, as well as in Trincomalee and Hambantota districts.
Colombo (LNW): Former President of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL), Jaswar Umar, has once again secured his position as the President of Football Sri Lanka.
This was when yesterday’s (29) election witnessed Umar winning with a decisive 45-20 vote.
Earlier this year, FIFA had suspended the FFSL starting from January 21, 2023, citing external interference in the Federation’s affairs and issues surrounding the Sri Lankan Football elections held in the same month.
However, FIFA lifted the suspension in August this year, attributing to the FFSL’s adherence to stipulated guidelines, which included the design and implementation of an electoral roadmap.
Following this roadmap, yesterday’s election took place, leading to the reinstatement of Umar as the President.
To mark 59 years of capacity building partnership between India and Sri Lanka through Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC), High Commission of India in Colombo celebrated ITEC Day 2023 on 27 September 2023.
Hon. Dr. Suren Raghavan, State Minister of Higher Education and Dr. Satyanjal Pandey, Deputy High Commissioner graced the occasion as the Chief Guest and the Guest of Honour respectively. The event was attended by over 100 participants, which included ITEC alumni from Sri Lanka, officials and professionals from diverse sectors who have participated in various training courses in India under different ITEC programmes.
In his address, Hon. State Minister of Higher Education lauded the historically close relations between India and Sri Lanka. Dr. Raghavan congratulated India for the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission and especially praised Indian women scientists involved in the lunar mission. He appreciated India for offering ITEC slots and annual scholarships to Sri Lankan nationals, and thanked India for the financial support extended to Sri Lanka in recent months. Hon. Minister highlighted the scope for further cooperation between India and Sri Lanka in the field of higher education, skill development and capacity building, especially in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and IT sectors. He encouraged the beneficiaries of ITEC programmes to contribute not only the development of Sri Lanka but also to take India – Sri Lanka relationship to the next level.
Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy High Commissioner noted the enormous interest shown by Sri Lankan officials for the ITEC programme over the years. Deputy High Commissioner highlighted India’s endeavor to help Sri Lanka in the education sector, including in higher education through partnership between higher education institutes in India and Sri Lanka, besides the current 402 ITEC slots annually. Deputy High Commissioner reiterated that India is guided by the philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ which means ‘the world is one family’ and India would continue to be in the forefront of capacity building programmes for Sri Lanka.
Senior officials reminisced and shared their experiences of ITEC training in India and appreciated the holistic content of the different ITEC programmes such as Gender Responsive Governance, Climate Change Policy Development and Financing for Effective Implementation of SDGs, Integrating Industry Four Dot Zero (4.0) Competency and Twenty First Century Skills in Educational Institutions, and Parliamentary Internship program.
ITEC is a flagship programme of the Government of India launched in September 1964 for extending technical assistance and building capacities of developing countries. It has emerged as an important vehicle for India’s contribution to human resource development of partner countries with over 200,000 persons from 160 fellow developing countries having participated in the programme. Sri Lanka is currently allotted 402 training slots annually for the ITEC programme. ‘ITEC Day’ is celebrated every year by Indian diplomatic Missions all over the world to mark this unique pillar of South-South partnership.
Fitch Ratings – Hong Kong – 28 Sep 2023: FitchRatings has upgraded Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Local-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘CCC-‘ from ‘RD’ (Restricted Default). Fitch typically does not assign Outlooks to sovereigns with a rating of ‘CCC+’ or below. The Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR has been affirmed at ‘RD’ and the Country Ceiling at ‘B-‘.
The Short-Term Local-Currency IDR has been downgraded to ‘RD’ from ‘C’ following the exchange of treasury bills held by the central bank and subsequently upgraded to ‘C’ in line with the Sovereign Rating Criteria, as we believe the local-currency debt exchange has now been completed.
A full list of rating actions is at the end of this rating action commentary.
Key Rating Drivers
Local-Currency Debt Exchange Completed: The upgrade of Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Local-Currency IDR to ‘CCC-‘ reflects the completion of the local-currency portion of Sri Lanka’s domestic debt optimisation (DDO) plan, launched in July 2023, following the exchange of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s (CBSL) treasury bills and provisional advance into new treasury bonds and bills on 21 September 2023.
We assume the debt restructuring will lower Sri Lanka’s gross financing needs over the medium term, in line with the targets under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility, and support an improvement in the country’s debt metrics over time. Local-currency restructuring could accelerate progress towards the restructuring of external debt.
Government Debt Remains High: General government debt and the interest costs faced by the government will remain high, despite the debt restructuring. Sri Lanka’s gross general government debt-to-GDP ratio is set to fall only gradually to just above 100% of GDP by 2028, from 128% of GDP in 2022, according to IMF programme forecasts published in March 2023, which incorporated a local- and foreign-currency debt restructuring scenario. The IMF scenario forecast the government interest-to- revenue ratio will decline to 42% by 2028, from over 70% in 2022.
Lower Financing Needs: The authorities expect the completion of the local-currency debt exchange to lower Sri Lanka’s gross government financing needs (GFN)/GDP by about 1.5pp over 2027-2032, according to documents published in July. External debt restructuring, which authorities expect to reduce GFN by an additional 2.6pp, remains critical to achieving the target of reducing GFN below 13% by 2027-2032, from 34% in 2022.
Reduction in Terms: The DDO on the local-currency debt entailed an extension of maturities on certain categories of domestic debt and offered several options, including nominal haircuts, currency redenomination and maturity extensions. Outstanding treasury bills purchased by the CBSL in the primary market were converted into 10 step-down fixed-coupon new treasury bonds and 12 existing treasury bills.
Stronger Revenue Generation Key: We believe IMF programme implementation, in particular fiscal measures, will be central to achieving debt sustainability. The risks remain significant, in our view, as a record of weak revenue generation presents challenges to achieving a faster reduction in the budget deficit and the general government debt-to-GDP ratio.
Authorities have taken several tax measures since May 2022 to improve revenue collection, including raising the corporate income tax rate to 30% from 24%, increasing the VAT rate to 15% from 8%, and raising fuel excise taxes. This resulted in revenue collection rising 43% yoy in 1H23. Additional measures in the pipeline include removing product-specific VAT exemptions before 2024 and introducing a property tax before 2025.
External Metrics Improving: Sri Lanka’sforeign-exchange (FX) reserves have been improving, with gross FX reserves rising to USD3.6 billion in August 2023, from USD1.9 billion at end-2022, partly the result of IMF disbursements and suspension of external debt servicing. However, without access to international capital markets, the sovereign remains dependent on official financing sources. We expect a gradual pick-up in exports in 2024-2025 after a contraction in 2023. Overseas worker remittance inflows are also rising. We therefore expect the current account deficit to stabilise at 1.6% of GDP over 2024-2025.
Slow Economic Recovery: GDP contracted by 2.7% yoy in 2Q23, slowing from the 12% contraction in 1Q23. Agriculture and services grew in 2Q23, but industry continued to shrink, although at a slower pace from 1Q23. We expect GDP to contract by 1.4% yoy in 2023 before growing by 3.3% and 3.5% in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Inflation, measured by the Colombo CPI, averaged around 30% yoy until August 2023 but continued the decline from end-2022. The CBSL has cut the standing deposit facility rate by a cumulative 350bp since January 2023. We expect another rate cut before end-2023.
Downside Risks to Banks Easing: The exclusion of banks’ holdings of treasury securities from the DDO has alleviated some of the pressure on their capital positions from weakening loan quality and rupee depreciation as well as any immediate funding and liquidity stresses. We believe any incremental risk to the banks’ capital from foreign-currency debt restructuring is likely to be manageable given their limited exposure to the defaulted sovereign bonds (3.6% of their combined total assets at end-1H23) and high provision coverage.
Foreign-Currency IDR in Default: The sovereign remains in default on foreign-currency obligations and has initiated a debt restructuring with official and private external creditors. The Ministry of Finance’s statement on 12 April 2022 said it had suspended normal debt servicing of several categories of external debt, including bonds issued in international capital markets, foreign currency-denominated loans and credit facilities with commercial banks and institutional lenders.
ESG – Governance: Sri Lanka has an ESG Relevance Score of ‘5’ for Political Stability and Rights as well as for the Rule of Law, Institutional and Regulatory Quality and Control of Corruption. These scores reflect the high weight that the World Bank Governance Indicators (WBGI) have in our proprietary Sovereign Rating Model (SRM). Sri Lanka has a medium WBGI ranking in the 45th percentile, reflecting a recent record of peaceful political transitions, a moderate level of rights for participation in the political process, moderate institutional capacity, established rule of law and a moderate level of corruption.
ESG – Creditor Rights: Sri Lanka has an ESG Relevance Score of ‘5’ for Creditor Rights, as willingness to service and repay debt is highly relevant to the rating and is a key rating driver with a high weight. The affirmation of Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR at ‘RD’ reflects a default event.
RATING SENSITIVITIES
Factors that Could, Individually or Collectively, Lead to Negative Rating Action/Downgrade
– The Local-Currency IDRs would be downgraded if further restructuring or a default on local-currency debt becomes probable due to an unsustainable debt burden or inability to raise revenue.
– The Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDRs are at the lowest level and cannot be downgraded further.
Factors that Could, Individually or Collectively, Lead to Positive Rating Action/Upgrade
– A sustained decline in the general government debt-to-GDP ratio that is underpinned by strong implementation of a medium-term fiscal consolidation strategy and improved growth performance.
– Completion of the foreign-currency commercial debt restructuring that Fitch judges to have normalised the relationship with private-sector creditors may result in an upgrade.
In accordance with the rating criteria for ratings in the ‘CCC’ range and below, Fitch’s sovereign rating committee has not used the SRM and QO to explain the ratings, which are instead guided by the agency’s rating definitions.
Fitch’s SRM is the agency’s proprietary multiple regression rating model that employs 18 variables based on three-year centred averages, including one year of forecasts, to produce a score equivalent to a LT FC IDR. Fitch’s QO is a forward-looking qualitative framework designed to allow for adjustment to the SRM output to assign the final rating, reflecting factors within our criteria that are not fully quantifiable and/or not fully reflected in the SRM.
Country Ceiling
The Country Ceiling for Sri Lanka is ‘B-‘. For sovereigns rated ‘CCC+’ or below, Fitch assumes a starting point of ‘CCC+’ for determining the Country Ceiling. Fitch’s Country Ceiling Model produced a starting point uplift of zero notches. Fitch’s rating committee applied a +1 notch qualitative adjustment to this, under the balance of payments restrictions pillar, reflecting that the private sector has not been prevented or significantly impeded from converting local currency into foreign currency and transferring the proceeds to non-resident creditors to service debt payments.
Fitch does not assign Country Ceilings below ‘CCC+’, and only assigns a Country Ceiling of ‘CCC+’ in the event that transfer and convertibility risk has materialised and is affecting the vast majority of economic sectors and asset classes.
REFERENCES FOR SUBSTANTIALLY MATERIAL SOURCE CITED AS KEY DRIVER OF RATING
The principal sources of information used in the analysis are described in the Applicable Criteria.
ESG Considerations
Sri Lanka has an ESG Relevance Score of ‘5’ for Political Stability and Rights as WBGI have the highest weight in Fitch’s SRM and are highly relevant to the rating and a key rating driver with a high weight. As Sri Lanka has a percentile rank below 50 for the respective governance indicator, this has a negative impact on the credit profile.
Sri Lanka has an ESG Relevance Score of ‘5’ for Rule of Law, Institutional & Regulatory Quality and Control of Corruption as WBGI have the highest weight in Fitch’s SRM and are therefore highly relevant to the rating and are a key rating driver with a high weight. As Sri Lanka has a percentile rank below 50 for the respective governance indicators, this has a negative impact on the credit profile.
Sri Lanka has an ESG Relevance Score of ‘4’ for Human Rights and Political Freedoms, as the Voice and Accountability pillar of the WBGI is relevant to the rating and a rating driver. As Sri Lanka has a percentile rank below 50 for the respective governance indicator, this has a negative impact on the credit profile.
Sri Lanka has an ESG Relevance Score of ‘5’ for Creditor Rights as willingness to service and repay debt is highly relevant to the rating and is a key rating driver with a high weight. Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR is ‘RD’ as the sovereign is in default on its foreign-currency debt obligations.
The highest level of ESG credit relevance is a score of ‘3’, unless otherwise disclosed in this section. A score of ‘3’ means ESG issues are credit-neutral or have only a minimal credit impact on the entity, either due to their nature or the way in which they are being managed by the entity. Fitch’s ESG Relevance Scores are not inputs in the rating process; they are an observation on the relevance and materiality of ESG factors in the rating decision. For more information on Fitch’s ESG Relevance Scores, visit www.fitchratings.com/topics/esg/products#esg-relevance-scores.
ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka is engaging positively with all foreign creditors State Minister for Finance Shehan Semasinghe said this week as an International Monetary Fund review hangs in the balance on restructuring.
“All creditors are engaging positively with us,” Minister Semasinghe said. “We expect decisions from all our creditors. For us earlier the better.”
Sri Lanka is negotiating with Paris Club creditors and several non-Paris Club creditors like India and Saudi Arabia together and China separately. China is an observer in the Paris Club meeting.
The Paris Club held a meeting on Sri Lanka on September 22 with China as an observer.
Though Paris Club creditors have a well-oiled mechanism to give a quick decision on countries that default, the entry of China which had earlier not been willing to restructure debt, but was willing to give fresh loans to repay instalments, have complicated matters.
“Let me say again that we support Chinese financial institutions in actively working out the debt treatment with Sri Lanka,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on September 26.
“We are ready to work with relevant countries and international financial institutions to jointly play a positive role in helping Sri Lanka navigate the situation, ease its debt burden and achieve sustainable development.”
There are expectations that Sri Lanka may be able to wrap up a preliminary deal with official creditors as early as October 2023 around the time IMF’s annual sessions take place in Morocco.
Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe is to make an official visit to China October.
Sri Lanka is expected to finalize a refinery deal in Hambantota among other investments during the visit, according to reports.
Completing Sri Lanka’s external debt restricting is key to completing the first review of the island’s reform and stabilization program with the International Monetary Fund, which is expected in October or November.
Without completing a review Sri Lanka will not have formal IMF economic targets for December, and no disbursement of the second tranche.
World Bank and IMF with the G20 group, which include India and China has formed Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable has been trying to fine tune debt restructuring going beyond the Paris Club.
IMF’s Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer said Sri Lanka’s debt is ‘spread around quite a bit’ to a question whether an IMF review could progress without China, possibly indicating that the lender would prefer to have the country on board.
“This is a process that we have that applies in the case of Sri Lanka to both official creditors, meaning other countries that have lent to Sri Lanka on a bilateral basis as well as commercial creditors, for example, bond holders,” Breuer told reporters in Colombo.
“And as you know, the government is in discussions with all of these groups. In Sri Lanka’s case, the debt is spread around quite a bit externally and domestically.”
Out of Sri Lanka’s 36.59 billion US dollars of central government debt, multilaterals held 29.8 percent or 10.9 billion US dollars which will not be restructured.
Bilaterals held another 29.9 percent of which Paris Club was 12.1 percent and China 12.7 percent.
Of the commercial debt which was 40.3 percent, China Development Bank held another 6 percent, relating to a monetary instability loan it has given as a bailout without asking for rate hikes to stop output gap targeting.
China without AIIB held 6,850 million US dollars or 18.7 percent of central government external debt.
Colombo (LNW): The National Law Week kicked off with its inaugural ceremony at the Supreme Court complex on Thursday (28), under the patronage of Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya and Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe.
This annual event, spearheaded by the Sri Lanka Bar Association (BASL), is dedicated to enlightening the public about legal matters.
Addressing the gathering, Minister Rajapakshe acknowledged that the idea of National Law Week was the brainchild of former Judge C.J. Weeramanthri in 2006. Its goal was to reshape prevailing misconceptions surrounding the legal sector in Sri Lanka, he noted.
Rajapakshe emphasised the importance of legal awareness in a democratic society and highlighted the Legal Aid Commission’s initiative to offer pro bono legal services for those with limited financial means, a program endorsed by the European Union, Asia Foundation, UNICEF, and UNDP.
Past economic adversities in Sri Lanka stemmed from a breakdown in the rule of law, the Minister went on, adding that given this context, the significance of initiatives like the National Law Week, especially for those affected by economic downturns must be addressed.
Rajapakshe ensured the government’s full backing to promote legal awareness among the masses.
Various dignitaries shared their insights during the ceremony, including the BASL President Kaushalya Navaratne, its Secretary Isuru Balapatabadi, and UNDP’s Sri Lanka Resident Representative, Azusa Kubota.
This year’s National Law Week, organised by the Ministry of Justice and the BASL with the backing of international organisations, encompasses legal clinics on September 29th and extends to a series of programs across all 25 districts from September 25th to October 1st.
Colombo (LNW): Between 19 and 24 September 2023, a proactive team of 16 entrepreneurs, affiliated with the Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs (COYLE), embarked on a pivotal trip to Jakarta, Indonesia.
Orchestrated by the Sri Lankan Embassy in Jakarta, their journey aimed at nurturing bilateral economic ties and scouting for collaborative ventures with Indonesian business magnates.
The group had the honor of touring the Permanent Trade Exhibition at Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade on 21 September 2023.
This tour was complemented by in-depth B2B deliberations with a leading pharmaceutical company in Indonesia, hinting at prospective alliances.
Meanwhile, on 22 September 2023, the Sri Lankan Embassy in Jakarta hosted a business conclave, which saw attendance from over 70 eager Indonesian business professionals. Representatives from influential associations like KADIN (Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry), HIPMI (Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association), APINDO (Indonesian Entrepreneurs Association), and GAPMMI (Indonesian Food and Beverage Producers Association) were present.
During the conclave, Sri Lankan Ambassador to Indonesia and ASEAN Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage laid out vivid picture of the vast business prospects available in both nations.
The vast potential Indonesia offers, especially considering its expansive middle class and vast consumer market, consisting of approximately 229.9 million spenders, was explained by Colombage.
In turn, the COYLE delegation showcased a detailed portrayal of potential business ventures to their Indonesian peers. The initiative was met with overwhelming positivity from Indonesian business trailblazers, hinting at a promising path for collaborations.
This interactive event reaffirmed the promise of a prosperous economic partnership between the two nations.
