High Commissioner of Sri Lanka Noordeen Mohamed Shaheid has said that terrorism remained a big challenge for Sri Lanka but today it has become a peaceful country. He said, "We have defeated terrorism but this target could not be have been achieved without immense support of Pakistan." He was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
LCCI's President Almas Hyder, Senior Vice President Khawaja Shahzad Nasir and Vice President Faheem-ur-Rehman Saigal and executive committee members were also present on the occasion. The HC said that the Sri Lankan nation has great honor for Pakistan and learnt a lot from its experience. Both the countries have signed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) but certain issues need to be resolved to take benefit of the FTA.
The agreement should be implemented and made beneficial for both countries, he said. There is a vast scope for expansion of two-way trade between Pakistan and Sri Lank. Both the countries should introduce new products for trade and make business-to-business contacts stronger. Sri Lanka offered huge opportunities in various sectors of economy.
LCCI President Almas Hyder said that Sri Lanka is at take-off stage and Pakistani business community should avail this great opportunity. Pakistan and Sri Lanka are members of SAARC and enjoy friendly relations based on historical linkages, he said, adding that cooperation between two countries, especially in defence sector, has played a major role in further strengthening the mutual ties.
Both the countries are steady trading partners. By way of signing the FTA in June 2005, the private sector representatives of Pakistan and Sri Lanka were provided with greater opportunities to take the trade and economic relations to next level, he said. From 2005 onwards, there was significant increase in bilateral trade but it is also a fact that we have so far not succeeded in fully exploiting the existing potential of trade between the two countries, he said. Among the top importing and exporting countries for Pakistan, Sri Lanka comes at 43rd and 19th places respectively, he maintained.
The LCCI chief said the balance of trade is in favour of Pakistan and it is encouraging to see that bilateral trade figures are following increasing trends. The overall trade figures went up from US 314 million dollars to $372 million during 2016 and 2017.
Pakistan is exporting cotton, pharmaceuticals, cement, rice, fertilizers and home textiles etc to Sri Lanka. The imports from Sri Lanka are vessels for breaking up, vegetable products, fibre board of woods, natural rubber and fruits, he added.
Almas Hyder said that there is considerable demand in Sri Lanka for Pakistani products like light engineering goods, auto parts, industrial raw materials, surgical instruments and plastic goods. "We are in a position to easily tap the Sri Lankan market demand in different fields including sports goods, electrical fans and household appliances," he said. The business communities of the two countries should keep on exploring the opportunities of mutual interest. Business delegations composed of sector-specific participants or product-specific groups of entrepreneurs should be organized regularly, he asserted.
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