KARACHI: Minister of Trade of Sri Lanka Dr. Bandula Gunawardane has said that a bilateral trade volume of approximately $450 million is grossly insufficient and expressed his resolve and full support to increase it to one billion dollars by 2024.
The dignitary was leading a high-profile trade & investment delegation comprising of high-ranking state functionaries and business leaders. During a meeting with Vice President FPCCI Hanif Lakhany, the Sri Lankan minister enlisted a number of areas to increase exports to Pakistan, namely various kinds of tea, natural rubber, coconut and coconut products, raw and processed fish, papermaking raw materials, gemstones, etc.
Dr. Bandula Gunawardane mentioned that Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (PSFTA) inked in 2005 has not achieved its real potential and needs to be revisited to make it more effective and result-oriented. He was optimistic that PSFTA can be widely expanded and updated to effectively kickstart an upward spiral in trade volumes and can translate into a multi-billion dollar phenomenon.
VP FPCCI Hanif Lakhany said added that Sri Lanka is the only country with whom Pakistan has a trade surplus on a sustainable basis and will always continue to be an important market for Pakistani business, trade, and industrial community. He also pointed out that Sri Lanka should aggressively promote its wonderful destinations and tourism infrastructure to Pakistanis to broaden People-to-People (P2P) and Business-to-Business (B2B) linkages and relations.
Mr Lankhany expressed his profound grief over the unfortunate and gruesome Sialkot incident with a Sri Lankan national. He acknowledged the Sri Lankan resolve and resilience to continue strengthening the brotherly bilateral relations between the two historically significant strategic partner nations.
Suleman Chawla, FPCCI’s SVP-elect for 2022, stated that Pakistan happens to be the world’s largest tea importer at approximately $700 million per year, but unfortunately Sri Lanka’s share stands at merely 2%. He added that FPCCI will strive and facilitate Sri Lanka to enhance tea exports to Pakistan. He proposed that the issue can be discussed while revising and expanding the PSFTA.
Engr. M.A. Jabbar, FPCCI’s VP-elect for 2022, mentioned that while bilateral trade volume of India and Sri Lanka is $4 billion and Pakistan & Sri Lanka is less than half a billion. He added that both countries need to look into the marginal and sub-potential trade activities and for its core causes.
Abdul Rahim Jano, former SVP FPCCI & Group Chairman at Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP), discussed that he found the Sri Lankan business community and the government very hospitable and welcoming during his fifty years of experience of dealing with them. He also enlightened on the historic trade ties between the Pakistani business community and Sri Lanka spanning over a century.
Zeeshan Shahid, Chairman of FPCCI’s Pak-Sri Lanka Business Council, proposed that Sri Lanka should consider importing motorcycles and spare parts from manufacturing plants in Pakistan operating on a large scale. He added that Pakistani motorcycles have improved in product quality over the years, and given that motorcycles are also widely used as the common man’s mode of transportation in Sri Lanka, just like Pakistan.
