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Pakistan - Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement

The Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement which will come into existence during President Kumaratunga's current visit to Pakistan, marks a historic landmark in an exemplary bilateral relationship. Pakistan has proved to be one of Sri Lanka's closest friends in the region over the decades and there is no better way to cement these amicable ties than through a Free Trade Agreement which would work to the benefit of both countries.

The fact that not so long ago Sri Lanka finalised a Free Trade Agreement with India underscores the non-aligned status of Sri Lanka and establishes beyond doubt that a cornerstone of the foreign policy of this country is the maintenance of friendly, cordial relations with all countries, both inside and outside our neighbourhood.

Pakistan's readiness to come to our assistance in our time of need was emphasized recently in her decision to provide us with relief supplies at the height of the tsunami disaster.

In addition to being a steady trading partner, Pakistan has also proved her trustworthiness in the field of military cooperation, besides boosting our morale as a defender of Sri Lanka's status as a single, indivisible state at the height of the North-East war in the mid Eighties. More recently, timely military supplies from Pakistan enabled the Lankan security forces in the Northern peninsula to defuse a looming military crisis.

Thus Pakistan has been a friend-in-need and, therefore, a friend indeed. We wish her well in particularly her efforts to upgrade her ties with India. These ties are of pivotal significance in regional peace and the importance of cordial Indo-Pakistani relations to the well being of SAARC, hardly needs any emphasis.

Ideally, the seven SAARC states should develop collectively and in unison but until the SAARC process is made to flourish, stepped-up bilateral trade ties among SAARC member states could prove beneficial and closely complement SAARC development initiatives.

The Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement is one such relationship. As indicated in our lead story yesterday, the Free Trade Agreement would aim at eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers from a multiplicity of trading items between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The economic spin off benefits from this agreement are bound to assist in strengthening bilateral ties between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Besides economic similarities, Pakistan, like Sri Lanka, is a multiethnic and pluralistic state. Secessionist movements, however, have not proved an unmanageable problem for the Pakistani State and the latter could perhaps provide many an insight to the region on managing ethnic conflicts and on effecting tighter national integration.

Curiously, economic globalization has impressed on regions, the need for such geographical entities to effect closer economic cooperation and interaction. Free Trade Agreements could be viewed as a fallout from such processes. They should be viewed as bridges to regional economic integration.

Finally, we hope that the cordiality brought about by these economic processes would help in putting the SAARC process back on track. A strong SAARC, after all, would be in the interest of the whole of South Asia.

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