Pakistan keen to expand trade ties with Sri Lanka

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has proposed a new turnaround level trade between the two countries, said Sri Lankan Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen.

Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan suggested widening the trade with Sri Lanka during a bilateral meeting with Bathiudeen on the sidelines of the 14th session of the UN Conference on Trade and Development in Nairobi, Kenya, Colombo Page reported on Friday.

"Our analysis is that our two economies do not compete with each other and; therefore, we can aggressively open up to move from our current few items trade basket to a much larger trade scheme," Dastgir said.

"We believe we can start our new rounds with a mutual recognition agreement. We have an opportunity. Let us walk the talk," he said.

Dastgir also said that the Pakistan single country exhibition held in Colombo was a great success and generated new trade interest among Pakistani businesses, adding: "We also invite stronger Lankan trade and business delegations to Pakistan so that we can start at B2B levels."

Welcoming the trade expansion offer, Bathiudeen assured Dastgir that Sri Lanka is working to send a strong trade and B2B delegation to Pakistan in the near future.

He said he will inform the government leaders of the offers, including the call for a mutual recognition agreement.

"A significant improvement in bilateral trade has been recorded since the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (PSFTA) came into force in June 2005. Still there appears to be unrealised trade potentials that we can jointly explore," he said.

Total trade between the two countries increased to $370.38 million in 2015 from $353 million in 2014, retaining Pakistan's position as the second largest Saarc trade partner of Sri Lanka.