Sri Lanka will also seek to balance its ties with giant neighbour India and China to ensure that there is no difference in dealing with the two, he said, as the rival Asian giants are key creditors and investors but are also jostling for geopolitical influence in the small Indian Ocean country.

“Hopefully within a couple of weeks,” Sabry said in Singapore, when asked when the nation’s bond restructuring efforts with creditors will be finished.

“Towards the end of this month, officially, we are done and dusted with the restructuring process, then of course, in line with that, we need to start payment,” he said.