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Wednesday, 29 November 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Government said that no partnership between India and Sri Lanka was as strong as the historic Indo-Lanka trade pact inked way back in 1998.
“The Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement was the most significant Indo-Sri Lanka partnership we have realised on the commercial front,” said Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen.
Minister Bathiudeen was addressing the inaugural event of the UEF Trade Summit 2017 at the Chennai Trade Centre in Tamil Nadu on 18 November.
The event, the second edition in the series organised by the United Economic Forum, was opened by the Minister for Finance of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, Haseeb A. Drabu. UEF is currently led by Ahmed A.R. Buhari, Founder President and CEO of the Dubai-based Coal and Oil Group (C&O). “The most significant Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) played a crucial role in shaping Sri Lanka’s subsequent economic integration with other countries in the region,” said Minister Bathiudeen.
“I am sure that ISFTA played a crucial role as a catalyst that shaped our subsequent economic integration with the other countries in the region. With the ISFTA becoming operational in 2000, the value of Indo-Lanka bilateral trade has increased in an unprecedented manner from $ 650 million in 2000 to close to $ 5 billion by 2016.”
In 2016, Lankan exports to India totalled $ 551.2 million of which 68% ($ 375.2 million) were exports under ISFTA. Sri Lanka’s top five exports - both under ISFTA and out of it - to India last year were pepper, animal feed, nuts, paper/paperboard and ships and vessels. Total bilateral trade for last year was $ 4.37 billion while from January-August this year it reported $ 3.26 billion. Sri Lanka’s leading import item from India (for the past five years) has been petroleum.
Indian Industry and Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu stressed the importance of collaboration in national policy formulation. “We must think about policies in a very comprehensive manner and that means a lot of stakeholders need to be consulted,” noted Minister Prabhu.
“That means the Government cannot just frame the policies within the four walls of a ministry.»
The first ever UEF Summit was held in 2015 in Chennai. Among those who addressed Chennai’s UEF 2017 was O. Panneerselvam, the Deputy Chief Minister of the Tamil Nadu Government, who said that Tamil Nadu’s new industrial policy launched in 2014 was now being reworked.
The United Economic Forum, a Chamber of Commerce founded by visionary and educationist Alhaj Dr. B.S. Abdur Rahman, aims to develop entrepreneurs, offering them the latest in training, technology and access to emerging opportunities, innovations, rising markets, government concessions and facilitating project finance including Shariah-compliant funds.
