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| Thursday, 1 January 2004 |
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Indo-Lanka industrial agreement to be signed mid January by Shirajiv Sirimane The signing of the historic memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the proposed Indo Lanka industrial agreement (ILIA) will take place on the third week of January in New Delhi. The agreement would be signed by the Minister of Industries Rohitha Bogollagama and Minister of Small and Medium Industries C. P. Thakoor. According to the Minister, the agreement would be valid for a period of three years and would benefit local companies especially in the small and medium sector industries in a major way. He said that this would be a major boon especially for the rural sector based industries. "This is the first time that an industrial agreement is signed in Sri Lanka for the industrial sector. The agreement is similar to the agreement between Mexico and USA where Mexico is gaining both financially and technically as a result." He said that since India is technically and financially advanced than Sri Lanka, local companies would have the advantage of sharing technology and would be able to find partners as well. India's small and medium sector industries are over 100 percent than in Sri Lanka. Since Sri Lanka is strategically located in the world economic map by way of air and sea routes the island has an edge over India. "Sri Lanka is in a better position to reach to the world and this would be the main reason for Indian companies to set up business in Sri Lanka. In addition India would also take in to account the skilled and educated labor force in the country." For this purpose the Indian companies would look out for local partners and this way Sri Lankan companies get that opportunity to share their knowledge." The Minister said that unlike most of the FTA's and other trade agreements, which were signed recently, this MoU only took only a record six months to formulate. The Ministry is planning to form a special unit to monitor the progress of this agreement and also to provide assistance for Indian companies." The ferry service between India and Sri Lanka too would be on the agenda of the Minister visits India in the third week of January. The Minister would be discussing this with the Indian Minister of Small Industries at this proposed meeting in India. According to an official of the Ministry, Sri Lankan companies who have already negotiated for this proposed service should contact the Ministry and forward their proposals. For the past two years negotiations in this regard were held to commence a service between Rameswaram and Colombo and subsequently linking Colombo with Cochin. |
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