SL exports to India earn US $ 522 m in 2011
Ramani KANGARAARACHCHI
Sri Lanka is now heading an export led growth and therefore complex
situations have to be taken into consideration. Director General of
Commerce P D Fernando said. He was addressing the participants at the
seminar on 'Market Opportunities in Asia, SAARC, FTA, SAFTA, AFTA
facilities to Sri Lankan Enterprises organized by Ceylon National
Chamber of Industries (CNCI) at the Mahaweli Centre yesterday.
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P D
Fernando |
He said the private sector in the country should get more benefits
for exports from free trade agreements and there should be a mechanism
to help industrialists to promote trade. Fernando said that it is not
possible to forsee all the problems when signing an agreement but the
Department of Commerce will be a partner going out of the way to listen
to the problems of industrialists within the stipulated framework.
High Commission of India Econ and Commerce Counsellor M Manish said
the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) which was signed in
1998 and implemented in March 2000, was advantageous for both countries
with shared benefits through duty free concessions to a wide range of
products traded between the two countries. Under the ISFTA, Sri Lanka
can now export more than 4,700 products to the vast Indian market on
duty free basis, he said. Manish said, for the first time in history,
total trade between Sri Lanka and India has exceeded US $ 4 billion in
2011 and the value of Sri Lanka's exports to India which stood around US
$ 56 million has increased to US $ 522 million in 2011 recording a
remarkable 832 percent.
Meanwhile, High Commission of Pakistan, Deputy Head of Mission Amna
Balloch said Pakistan is the second largest trading partner of Sri Lanka
in the SAARC region after India and the value of trade between Sri Lanka
and Pakistan stood at US $ 147 million in 2004 has increased to US $ 141
million in 2011.
Sri lanka exports to Pakistan have increased to US $ 75 million in
2011 compared to USD 39 million in 2004 recording a growth of 92
percent, she said.
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