Sri Lanka honours pledge to support Commonwealth Small States Trade Finance Facility

Thursday, 19 April 2018 00:42 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

In order to help small states get access to global markets, Sri Lanka pledged financial contribution to set up the Small States Trade Financial Facility last afternoon on the margins of the ongoing Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in the UK.

Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera signed the agreement on behalf of Sri Lanka.

Initiated at the CHOGM 2013 Summit in Colombo, the Commonwealth recognised the importance of trade finance for the development of small states and introduced this innovative blended finance support totalling $ 5 million. It is expected that Commonwealth small states will have access to $ 300 million of incremental trade finance over a three-year period from this program.

Sri Lanka’s pledge towards this scheme reflects its commitment towards espousing the values and the spirit of the organisation in assisting the more vulnerable members in the Commonwealth to develop their economies whose population’s productive capacity and domestic markets are limited.

The other countries supporting this endeavour are India, Mauritius and Malta, also by pledging financial commitment towards this initiative.