Sri Lanka is a net oil importer with its oil bill expected to soar to over two billion dollars this year, from about 1.6 billion dollars the year before.
The small island economy subsidizes petroleum sales, with state oil giant Ceylon Petroleum Corporation selling a few rupees below cost on each litre of fuel and Lanka Indian Oil Corporation dropping prices to keep up.
Though no firm agenda for talks on oil was announced, developing countries were warned against the dangers of subsiding retail fuel prices in the face of steadily increasing global prices of crude.
"Given China's role in the economy, their need for oil and their consumption of oil, anyone who believes that the price of oil is going to come down will be in a difficul