Alipay+ Is Now Enabled in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 26, 2025--

LankaPay - Sri Lanka’s National Payment Network - announced their partnership with Ant International, a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider, to launch Alipay+ acceptance in Sri Lanka at a press conference held on 25 th March 2025 at the Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo. Accordingly, over 400,000 LANKAQR merchants across Sri Lanka will be able to accept cross-border mobile payments from tourists and business traveller via 14 international e-wallets connected to Alipay+ during the first phase.

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Alipay+, Ant International’s cross-border mobile payment and digitalisation solution, now connects over 1.7 billion users via 36 international e-wallets and banks apps worldwide. During the initial phase, travellers from 10 countries and regions, can simply scan the LANKAQR code at more than 400,000 merchants across the island to make payments, just as they are used to at home.

The Alipay+ partners enabled for cross-border payment acceptance in Sri Lanka in the first phase include: Alipay (Chinese mainland), AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR), MPay (Macao SAR), Hipay (Mongolia), GCash (the Philippines), Changi Pay and OCBC Digital (Singapore), Touch ‘n Go eWallet and MyPB by Public Bank Berhad (Malaysia), Naver Pay and Toss Pay (South Korea), TrueMoney (Thailand), BigPay (Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand), and Tinaba (Italy).

The launch of Alipay+ would represent the biggest acceptance of cross-border payments in Sri Lanka, including their partners from top inbound operators and potential markets such as Italy, Singapore, Malaysia and China, as identified by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), and other top growth markets like South Korea and Thailand. All these travellers will now be able to make seamless payments when they visit Sri Lanka, paying with their preferred home payment app/e-wallet, which not only offers added convenience to mobile-savvy customers, but also ensures more business for local merchants.

Figures from SLTDA showed steady growth in Sri Lanka’s tourism sector, with visitor arrivals increasing by 38 percent in 2024, compared to the year before. For 2025, Sri Lanka is targeting 3 million tourist arrivals and US$5 billion in tourism related revenue.

Welcoming Ant International into Sri Lanka, Mr. Channa de Silva, CEO of LankaPay, stated: "We are delighted to partner with Ant International and enable Alipay+ cross-border payment solution, which signifies a landmark milestone in our global journey. This partnership connects us with international Alipay+ partner users worldwide, enabling them to make seamless payments during their visit to Sri Lanka, similar to their experience at home. This collaboration signifies our commitment to enhance payment convenience to tourists and business travellers to Sri Lanka and attract much needed foreign exchange into the country. Our aim is to support the country’s booming tourism sector with seamless and secure digital payments providing a greater convenience to the travellers whilst providing a cost-efficient digital payment acceptance mechanism to local merchants.”

LANKAQR is a national initiative launched by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to ensure all QR code-based transactions are standardized and interoperable in Sri Lanka. Introduced in 2020, LANKAQR network is managed and operated by LankaPay, providing a platform to connect consumers, banks and merchants into a single payment network across the country.

Edward Yue, General Manager for Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Ant International said: “The national LANKAQR infrastructure by the Sri Lanka Central Bank and LankaPay lays a strong foundation for the digitalisation of local businesses and we’re proud to partner with LankaPay to enhance interoperability and connect global customers to the local payment ecosystem. Tourism will be a significant driving force in the global economy and based on trends we are seeing, Sri Lanka will significantly benefit, as travellers seek rich cultural, nature and unique experiences. Beyond payments, Alipay+ also enables merchants to reach travellers through new digital services directly within mobile apps, digitalising key travel scenarios, opening new channels of engagements and driving even more vibrant and inclusive growth.”

Ant International and LankaPay will enable more Alipay+ partner e-wallet acceptance in Sri Lanka and collaborate on joint marketing efforts.

About LankaPay

Incorporated in 2002, LankaPay is Sri Lanka’s National Payment Network. With a multitude of digital payment solutions, the entity facilitates domestic interbank payment solutions under the guidance of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Being one of South Asia’s most progressive payment networks, LankaPay has pioneered many payment technology innovations in the region. Owned by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and all licensed commercial banks in the country, the entity is regarded as one of the best public private partnerships in the region. In 2020, under the guidance of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, LankaPay implemented LANKAQR – a unified interoperable QR code in compliance with EMVCO standards. Currently there are 21 local banks and finance companies connected to the LANKAQR network enabling over 400,000 merchants across the island.

About Ant International

Headquartered in Singapore, Ant International is a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider offering a unified techfin platform to unlock next-gen commerce for all. In close collaboration with partners, they support merchants of all sizes worldwide to realize their growth aspirations through a comprehensive range of tech-driven digital payment and financial services solutions. To learn more, please visit https://www.antglobal.com/

About Alipay+

Ant International's Alipay+ is a unified wallet gateway with cross-border payment and digitisation services that help connect global merchants to consumers. Consumers enjoy seamless payments a broad choice of deals and the convenience of digital services using their preferred payment app/e-wallet while travelling abroad. Many small and medium-sized businesses already use Alipay+ digital tools to enhance efficiency and achieve omni-channel growth.

LankaPay and Ant International partner to connect global consumers to local merchants via LANKAQR and Alipay+

GUATIRE, Venezuela (AP) — The United States and Venezuela said Friday they were exploring the possibility of restoring relations, as a Trump administration delegation visited the South American nation.

The visit marks a major step toward reestablishing diplomatic ties between the historically adversarial governments. In a brazen intervention last weekend, the U.S. military captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last weekend from his compound in Caracas and flew him to New York to face federal charges of drug-trafficking.

A small team of U.S. diplomats and a security detail traveled to Venezuela to make a preliminary assessment about the potential reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, the State Department said in a statement.

Venezuela’s government on Friday said it plans to send a delegation to the U.S. but it did not say when. Any delegation from the country traveling to the U.S. will likely require sanctions to be waived by the Treasury Department.

The government of acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez said it “has decided to initiate an exploratory process of a diplomatic nature" with the U.S., "aimed at the re-establishment of diplomatic missions in both countries."

Rodríguez is engaged in a delicate balancing act, under pressure to meet the Trump administration’s demands and also win the support of Venezuela's military hard-liners outraged over the U.S. seizure of Maduro.

Her statements on Friday laid bare that tension.

Relating her telephone conversations with the left-wing presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Spain, she condemned Washington's “grave, criminal, illegal, and illegitimate aggression” against her country.

Later, in televised remarks at the inauguration of a small women’s health clinic in downtown Caracas, she emphasized diplomacy with Trump as the best way to defend Venezuela and even “ensure the return of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.”

“We will meet face-to-face in diplomacy ... to defend the peace of Venezuela, the stability of Venezuela, the future, to defend our independence and to defend our sacred and inalienable sovereignty,” Rodríguez said without mentioning the possible resumption of operations at the U.S. embassy.

President Donald Trump has sought to coerce Rodriguez and other former Maduro loyalists still in power to advance his vision for U.S. control of Venezuela's lucrative oil exports. The South American country has the world's largest proven crude reserves.

The U.S. and Venezuela severed ties during Trump's first term in 2019. The U.S. insistence that opposition leader Juan Guaidó was the rightful president of Venezuela enraged Maduro, who maintained his firm grip on power.

That year, the Trump administration shuttered the embassy in Caracas and moved diplomats to nearby Bogotá, Colombia.

U.S. officials have traveled to Caracas just a handful of times since.

The latest visit came last February when Trump's envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, met with Maduro, paving the way for Venezuela's release of six detained Americans.

Lee reported from Washington. Megan Janetsky contributed to this report from Mexico City.

Follow the AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Supporters of the Venezuelan government rally calling for the release of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were captured by U.S. forces, in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

El Helicoide, the headquarters of Venezuela's intelligence service and detention center, stands in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, after National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said the government would release Venezuelan and foreign prisoners. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

FILE - A local walks past a mural featuring oil pumps and wells in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

A couple sits on a bench at a viewpoint overlooking the U.S. embassy, center left, in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

The U.S. Embassy stands in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

FILE - Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez attends the High-Level Segment of the 28th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Keystone,Salvatore Di Nolfi, File)

Performers on stilts dressed as former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores wave during a march by government supporters calling for their release after U.S. forces captured them, in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Supporters of the Venezuelan government rally calling for the release of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, who were captured by U.S. forces, in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)