Colombo, Jan 21 (IANS) Sri Lanka’s newly elected government promised to work closely with “key players” India and China and added that the ongoing development projects with international partners would continue, a media report said Wednesday.

“The reality is that we have to work in the Asian region and India and China are two of (the) key players. So we will work very closely with these countries,” said Highways and Investment Promotion Minister Kabir Hashim, according to Xinhua report.

The Sri Lankan government clarified that it had no favouritism or disrespect for any country and would like to work hand-in-hand with all countries in a bid to promote the country’s economy.

Hashim and his deputy Eran Wickremaratne in a meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Wu Jianghao discussed the means of cooperation among the two countries.

The Sri Lankan government said that the country could reap high economic benefits by doing business with China.

Since the end of a three-decade war in 2009, China has loaned about $3 billion to Sri Lanka, mostly for massive infrastructure projects, helping to lay a foundation for the island country’s future development.