Director General of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce of Sri Lanka, Ms Manel De Silva, has informed the business community that the next round of dialogue with Pakistan on service sector will be held soon.
Speaking at first ever joint dialogue between Pakistan and Sri Lanka businessmen on Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (PSLFTA) organised by Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Saturday, she said that both countries would soon devise a mechanism on trade dispute resolution.
She advised Pakistan's business community to start aggressive marketing of Pakistani products in Sri Lanka to fully benefit from PSLFTA Ms De Silva said that the governments only signs agreement and facilitate the business community. It is the job of business community to fully utilise these agreements and facilities. She said that the balance of trade is in favour of Sri Lanka due to its aggressing marketing in Pakistan market.
She said Sri Lanka market offers good opportunities to boost Pakistan's exports. "It is now the job of Pakistani traders to explore this market and fully utilise the benefits of PSLFTA", she added. She invited Pakistani business community to establish joint venture units in Sri Lanka for export of goods to third countries after value-addition.
She said that Sri Lanka has FTA with India, GSP Plus agreement with European Union. These agreements can be exploited by having joint units and exporting goods after value-addition. Director Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) Usman Hasan said that the government was holding seminars to apprise the businessmen about FTA He said that one seminar was held in Faisalabad and other would be held in Lahore and Karachi.
Chairman, Sri Lanka-Pakistan Business Council, Ghulam Chatoor emphasised the need of easing visa policies. He said that people have started speaking about border-free region in Saarc whereas in practice getting visa is the most difficult job in these countries.
President of National Chamber of Industry Sri Lanka, Ratna Rajah said that tariff on items which did not come in the ambit of FTA are also low in Sri Lanka as compared to Pakistan. He said that Pakistan has big chance to boost export of textile and leather products to Sri Lanka. Consul General of Sri Lanka, V.S.Siddath Kumar said that it is not possible to sample import some products and re-export to other countries under FTA.
He said that value-addition is necessary for re-exporting products to other countries. It is also not possible to simply joint components of a product and claim value-addition, he added Officer of Pakistani High Commission in Sri Lanka, Dr Muhemmed Aejaz said that after PSLFTA came into force about one and a half-year ago, Sri Lanka trade with Pakistan registered an increased by 60 percent whereas Pakistan's trade with Sri Lanka registered only three percent increase.
He said that this result indicated that Pakistani business community is unaware of PSLFTA benefits. He said that they must study this agreement to fully exploit its benefits. He pointed out that the High Commission receives few trade inquires from Pakistani side whereas they receive a bundle of inquires from Sri Lanka side.
Welcoming the guests, President, KCCI, Majyd Aziz proposed that the Saarc region be made border-free. He also emphasised the need to study the outcome of Sri Lanka and India FTA so that best practices should be adopted.
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