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| Sunday, 21 September 2003 |
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Several FTAs in the offing Sri Lanka will sign Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with New Zealand, Costa Rica, Bangladesh and Brunei in the near future as a measure of promoting trade and expediting the country's integration into the global economy. Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Ravi Karunanayake had bilateral meetings with Minister of Commerce Pakistan Humayan Akhtar Khan, Minister of Trade Negotiations New Zealand Jim Sutton, Minister of Commerce Costa Rica Dr Alberto Jose Trejos, Minister of Commerce Bangladesh Mahmud Chowdry and Minister of Industry and Primary Resources Brunei Darussalam Pepin Abdul Rahman Tahib, during his recent visit to Mexico to attend the WTO ministerial meeting. Sources said the Bangladeshi Minister was eager to conclude and sign the FTA by the end of the year while the Costa Rican Minister had found the idea of negotiating an FTA with Sri Lanka interesting to his government and had agreed to communicate the proposal to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Apparently, Costa Rica is planning to conclude FTAs with 24 countries in Latin America before the end of the year. The New Zealand Minister had responded positively to the proposal and had agreed to study the feasibility of concluding an FTA. The follow-up will be done by the Ministry in New zealand through the Lankan Ministry of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Minister Karunanayake is also expected to lead a trade and investment promotion mission to the country in the future. The Minister from Brunei too had agreed to study the proposal and send a response soon. He had informed Minister Karunanayake that they are negotiating a number of FTAs including a framework agreement with India. Minister of Commerce Pakistan had been keen to finalise the schedules of the FTA signed between the two countries. A meeting of senior officials followed by a meeting at ministerial level were proposed to resolve outstanding issues with regard to the schedules of the FTA. The possibility of developing civil aviation, frequency of flights between the two countries and promoting investment by Pakistan textile manufacturers in Sri Lanka were also discussed by the two ministers, according to sources. |
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