Colombo, Feb 15 (Xinhua) The Sri Lankan government has gifted a baby elephant to China to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

A Sri Lankan senior government official told Xinhua that the baby elephant named 'Migara' left the Colombo International Airport in a specially chartered flight Thursday morning.

He said along with the baby elephant a Buddha statue had also been dispatched on the same flight. The gifts to China dispatched ahead of a scheduled official visit to Beijing by the Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse.

The Sri Lanka president is due to undertake his visit to China at the end of this month, which is the first since he assumed office late 2005.