Pakistan and Sri Lanka reviewed several bilateral trade aspects and focused on the possibility of mutual tariff concessions entitlement on selected items, says a press release received here from Sri Lanka on Friday. The Secretarial level meeting and talks between Pakistan and Sri Lanka on the bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Colombo were conducted on August 19 (Friday).
The agreed minutes of Pakistan Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (PSFTA) and related matters were signed in Colombo on August 18 (Thursday) following the talks. Secretary of Pakistan's Ministry of Commerce, Zafar Mahmood, and Tilak Collure, Secretary, Sri Lanka's Ministry of Industry and Commerce, placed their signatures representing the two countries.
The two sides noted the friendly ties and the growing commercial relations between Pakistan and Sri Lanka and acknowledged that the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (PSFTA), which came into force in mid-2005, has helped the two nations in enhancing their bilateral trade from $147 million in 2004 to $342 million by 2010, representing a substantial increase of 133 percent. Among the important decisions reached were that Sri Lanka would allocate importation of the entire basmati rice quota of 6000 tons agreed under the PSFTA in 2005 to the private sector from 2012.
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