KARACHI: Dr Bandula Gunawardane, Minister of Trade of Sri Lanka has said that a bilateral trade volume of approximately US 450 million dollars still insufficient as compared to the true potential.

Speaking at a meeting of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), he highlighted different sectors to increase the exports to Pakistan such as various kinds of tea, natural rubber, coconut and coconut products, raw and processed fish, papermaking raw materials, gemstones, etc.

Dr Bandula Gunawardane mentioned that Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (PSFTA) inked in 2005 has not achieved its real potential and needs to be revisited to make it more effective and result-oriented.

He expressed his resolve to take trade volume to US one billion dollars till 2024.

Hanif Lakhany, VP FPCCI, has expressed his profound grief over the most unfortunate and gruesome Sialkot incident with a Sri Lankan national and respectfully acknowledged the Sri Lankan resolve and resilience to continue to cement the brotherly bilateral relations between the two historically significant strategic partner nations.

Hanif Lakhany added that Sri Lanka is the only country with whom we have trade surplus on a sustainable basis and therefore it will always continue to be an important market for Pakistani business, trade, and industrial community.

He also pointed out that Sri Lanka should aggressively promote its wonderful destinations and tourism infrastructure to Pakistanis to broaden people-to-people (P2P) and business-to-business (B2B) linkages and relations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022