Sri Lanka is keen on importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar as part of plans to shift to clean energy, a top government official said.

“In our energy sector, LNG-generated power plants are going to be the next futuristic power generation option. In order to bridge the gap of our energy supplies, we want to move away from coal to LNG. There is a high priority being given to that,” Minister of City Planning and Water Supply Rauff Hakeem was quoted as saying in a Gulf Times report.

“We have already identified two 300MW LNG-generated power plants that we plan to rollout. We are now projecting our power requirements for the next 20 to 30 years; we need to quickly move on to some energy options, which have less impact on the environment and LNG is one of those options,” Hakeem told Gulf Times.

“There is a free trade agreement that we are finalising with Qatar and hopefully that would be signed when the president visits the country next year. The free trade agreement will further facilitate better bilateral trade ties between Qatar and Sri Lanka and give better incentives to people from both countries to trade with each other,” Hakeem noted.