The Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, which was gifted by the Chinese Government, was inaugurated at a ceremony which included Mrs Bandaranaike, President William Gopallawa, Vice Chairman of the State Council of China Marshal Hsu Hiang-Chien, the Chinese Ambassador as well as two workers representing the workers of Sri Lanka and China. At 3.55pm on 17 May 1973, the Chinese Ambassador handed over a tray with the key to the BMICH to Mrs Bandaranaike, who in turn handed it over to the administrator of the Conference Hall. Speaking at the inauguration Mrs Bandaranaike thanked China for “this outstanding gift” and hoped that the hall would be “an abiding embodiment of Prime Minister Solomon Bandaranaike’s faith in internationalism and the brotherhood of man, as well as the realization of a wish which was dear to his heart that Sri Lanka could someday serve as a meeting ground for nations of the world.” Prime Minister Chou En lai had been unable to attend the ceremony due to ill health, but it had been during his visit to Ceylon in 1963, that the proposal for the hall had been first made. Covering 37 acres of land in Colombo 07, the BMICH todays stands as a monument to the strong friendship between Sri Lanka and China.