Pakistani business chamber seeks to expand two-way trade with Sri Lanka

A delegation of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, led by its President Malik Tahir Javaid Friday held meetings with Sri Lankan businessmen at Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FCCISL), Sri Lanka and Colombo Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The LCCI President has said that there is a vast scope for expansion of two-way trade between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the presence of free trade agreement (FTA), and suggested the businessmen of the two countries should start joint ventures and make joint efforts to increase the existing trade volume, Pakistan newspaper The Nation reported.

He noted that in the presence of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries, there is potential to further strengthen their multifaceted and multi-sectoral cooperation in the fields of herbal medicine, gem and jewellery, culture, commerce and trade, science and technology and tourism. He said that Sri Lanka offers huge opportunities in gem and jewellery, rubber, garments, hospitality, services and there is a need to take advantage by liberal trade policies of the Sri Lankan Government.

“Pakistan and Sri Lanka are lucrative investment locations for each other’s exporters as on the one hand Pakistan is a gateway to resource-rich Central Asian States while on the other Sri Lanka enjoys duty-free access to huge European and Indian markets,” the LCCI President added.

He also called for collaboration in construction, sugar, cement, paper and paper board, electronics, software development, food processing and preservation, dairy products and storage tanks, mineral mining, handicrafts, gem and jewellery and livestock breeding.

He said that business delegations composed of sector-specific participants or product-specific group of entrepreneurs should be organised regularly.