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Inter-regional preferential trade agreement proposed

by Hiran H. Senewiratne

Sri Lanka has proposed the creation of an inter-regional preferential trade agreement of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC). It is a wonderful opportunity to enhance trade and investment, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said.

"We need to determine the role of IOR-ARC and deliberate the future direction of the organisation," Prime Minister Wickremesinge told the closing session of the IOR-ARC Foreign Ministers Meeting last week.

The Premier raised the issues of formulating a Free Trade Agreement, reducing trade tariffs, trade facilitation and minimising bureaucratic red tape procedures hampering trade within the IOR-ARC member nations. The importance of the concurrent development of the marine and aviation spheres was also stressed.

He called upon all member countries to work as a team for the development of trade and investment, which should be the organisation's prime focus.

IOR-ARC Chairman-elect Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando said the Association had decided to work towards accelerating economic linkages among the countries of the Indian Ocean Rim.

The IOR-ARC members countries are Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The dialogue partners are the United Kingdom, Japan, China, Egypt and France.

"We should work collectively towards harnessing the vast resources in the Indian ocean," said Minister Fernando.

He said it is high time to explore the vast resources such as natural gases and petroleum in the Indian Ocean. He said that India is already benefiting from these resources.

The Minister also said that cooperative efforts should be pursued to explore the depths of the ocean.

The IOR-ARC Chairman also said that during the Council of Ministers Meetings, it was decided to present an annual report of its activities to the United Nations. A decision was also made to meet annually rather than once in two years.

Call all Sri Lanka

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