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Thursday, 27 February 2014 01:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Bathiudeen was in Baghdad leading the 16-member strong Lankan delegation to Iraq for the eighth JEC. On its part, displaying an unprecedented interest, the Government of Iraq was fielding an official team of more than 30 members that consisted reps from such key Iraqi Ministries such as Trade, Economic Relations, Transportation and Industry and Minerals. The Iraqi team at the Baghdad JEC session was led by Minister of Trade Kheer-allah Hassan babaker Muhammad.
Minister of Trade Muhammad, who shared similar sentiments on historic bilateral cooperation similar to Bathiudeen, said: “Iraq side is keen to share the experiences of Sri Lanka, particularly in the fields of investment promotion, Free Trade Zones, and financial and health sectors.”
According to the Department of Sri Lanka, the value of total trade between the two countries that stood at $ 8.72 m in 2003 topped $ 89.99 m in 2013. Sri Lanka exported goods totalling $ 89.80 m to Iraq and imported only goods of $ 0.19 m from Iraq during 2013.
Tea has been a major export item to Iraq, accounting for about 95% of Sri Lanka’s exports to Iraq, with an estimated 15,000MT of Ceylon Tea being exported indirectly through Dubai, Jordan and Kuwait.
Addressing the session, Bathiudeen said: “The establishment of the Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation between our two countries in 1975 opened a new chapter in our cooperation for development and enhanced our relations in diverse fields covering trade, economic and technical cooperation. This bilateral mechanism has played a crucial role in bringing our two countries much closer in different fields, which are of mutual interest. I am confident that our friendly relations will continue to bring prosperity to the people of our countries in years to come.”
“At the 7th Session, held in Colombo in 2010, we focused on cooperation in trade, industry, investments, economic, agricultural, scientific and cultural fields. While progress has been seen in some areas, we are yet to explore the avenues for development in several other prospective sectors. Elimination of terrorism from the country and building the necessary economic infrastructure and gaining from the unique strategic location have brought Sri Lanka into a significant advantageous position for international trade.
“The second phase of the development policy framework has been geared for Sri Lanka to become a naval, aviation, commercial, energy and knowledge hub of Asia. Such positioning of Sri Lanka is expected to establish closer integration with the countries in the region with the aim of establishing integrated value chains for mutual benefit. I am confident that both Sri Lanka and Iraq would be able to benefit on these developments taking into account the potential for greater economic cooperation.
On bilateral trade, he observed that there has been very slow progress, which may be due to the prevailing circumstances. Bathiudeen noted the time has come for a new beginning in bilateral trade, to look beyond the limited activities at present, pointing out that current trade is only limited to export of Ceylon Tea to Iraq, recorded at US$ 90 million in 2013.
“Iraq is certainly an important market for us not only for tea but for other prospective products. Similarly, there would be good opportunities for Iraq to promote its products in Sri Lanka that are having potential. It is therefore important for us to identify the avenues available and the prospects for introducing new products to each other’s markets. We are hopeful that with our continued dialogue and interactions, we will be able to find ways and means to overcome the practical difficulties and address those issues towards achieving this common objective. I believe, the business community of our two nations need our encouragement, facilitation and assistance in this direction.”
Bathiudeen said the restoration of peace and normalcy has created a greater optimism, providing a strong basis for long-term sustainable development, supported by conducive policies of the present Government. He said this significant growth has resulted in increasing GDP per capita from US$ 1,062 in 2004 to over US$ 2,900 in 2012.
“The economy grew by an estimated 7.2% in 2013, which is remarkable, in spite of external and domestic drawbacks. We expect Sri Lanka’s economy to grow over 8% in the near future. In this process of economic development, our international partners play a very important role with their active involvement in trade, economic and investment activities in Sri Lanka. A significant growth in Foreign Direct Investment has been recorded during the last few years.”
He said in 2013 Sri Lanka was able to attract Foreign Direct Investment of over US$ 1.2 billion from different sources, covering projects in diverse sectors, adding that there is a lot of renewed interest among foreign investors in relation to investment in prospective projects in different sectors.
Sri Lanka’s highly literate skilled labour force, transparent investment laws guaranteed by the Constitution and the international agreements have made Sri Lanka one of the most preferred investment destinations among the international business community, Bathiudeen asserted.
“I wish to take this opportunity to invite the Iraq business community to visit Sri Lanka and explore the opportunities available for them in their areas of interest. Sri Lanka is strategically located at the cross roads connecting East and West through sea and air routes. This is certainly the biggest advantage that we have in our economic development plan to make Sri Lanka a global commercial hub. Sri Lanka is increasingly becoming an attractive tourist destination for the travellers, since the dawn of peace in 2009.”
Bathiudeen added that tourist arrivals have dramatically increased during the last few years and crossed one million in 2013. The Government’s target is 2.5 million tourist arrivals by 2016. “The tourist industry is one of the best opportunities that we have at the moment and the Government is making it a priority to develop tourism-related infrastructure to cater to increasing tourist arrivals and develop this industry and the economy. We consider this Joint Commission very important for our bilateral cooperation. I am confident that with our mutual understanding we will be able to discuss our proposals and address issues that are before us at this session in order to achieve the desired objectives.”
