Sri Lanka - Pakistan FTA review talks begin in Colombo
Talks between Sri Lanka and Pakistan on aspects of the bilateral FTA
have begun in Colombo on August 17. The Secretarial Level Meeting
scheduled to be concluded today reviews several bilateral trade aspects
and also focuses on the possibility of mutual tariff concession
entitlements on selected items.
"I like to observe that Sri Lanka and Pakistan have progressed well
in the field of commerce. Trade between the two countries have gained a
fresh impetus in the aftermath of heads of state level meeting of
November 2010. Today Pakistan is Sri Lanka's second largest trade
partner in the South Asian region. The excellent relationship enjoyed by
both sides at political and technical levels could be instrumental in
this session becoming successful" said Industry and Commerce Ministry
Secretary Tilak Collure, commencing the fourth Technical Level Meeting
between Pakistan and Sri Lanka on PSFTA negotiations.
In response, Pakistani Commerce Ministry Secretary Zafar Mahmood
said, "Sri Lanka was the first country that Pakistan signed an FTA with.
In the recent India-Pakistan bilateral Commerce Secretary level meeting,
it was decided to normalise the trade relations between us and India
which I believe as a positive trend. We need to enlarge to scope of
Lanka-Pakistan FTA through meetings such as this. We would like to make
this a continuous and an uninterruptible process. We can now further
build on the existing high level relations and current deliberations
will help us to delve deeper into the bilateral relations."
"I visited Sri Lanka no less than three times and all these trips
were very pleasant and productive. I know for certain that the outcome
of these talks too will be very positive," Mahmood said.
The decision to hold this meeting was officially reached by both Sri
Lanka and Pakistan jointly at the Ministerial Level (trade) session
between both countries on July 4-5, 2011 in Islamabad as the two South
Asian countries met to revive the "Sri Lanka - Pakistan Joint Economic
Commission". Previously, during the state visit of Islamic Republic of
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to Sri Lanka from November 27-30,
2010, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed to hold the 10th
session of JEC in the first quarter of 2011 to be co-chaired at
Ministerial Level.
On July 4 and 5, Pakistani Minister of State for Foreign Affairs,
Finance and Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar and Sri Lanka's Industry
and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen led the bilateral sessions
representing their respective countries. Both Ministers agreed to hold
the next meeting of JEC in Colombo in 2012. Upon detailed review of
implementation status of decisions taken at the ninth Session of Pak-Sri
Lanka Joint Economic Commission, both sides agreed that the
implementation status of JEC is satisfactory to Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
During the July sessions in Islamabad, the Sri Lankan delegation was
also looking to reduce tariffs imposed by Pakistan on Sri Lankan agro
products, coconut based products and Betel leaves in Pakistan. The Sri
Lankan delegation also focused on the US $ 200 million Pakistani credit
line extended to Sri Lanka in November 2010.
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