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| Sunday, 1 February 2004 |
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Common visas for BIMST-EC region? The proposal to issue a common visa for business people from the BIMST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand-Economic Cooperation) region is among the main items to be discussed when the ministers of the region meet in Thailand from February 6-12 . The session will start with the senior officers meeting on the 6th while the trade and commerce ministers' meeting is scheduled to take place on February 7 followed by the foreign ministers' meeting on the 8th. The framework agreement for the multilateral free trade agreement within the BIMST-EC region will take place on the 7th. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will lead a delegation to Thailand on the 9th and he is expected to sign the bilateral free trade agreement with Thailand. This will help improve trade within the two countries. This will enable registered business people to travel within the region, using a common visa, said President, BIMST-EC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chandra Embuldeniya. The BIMST-EC Business Forum will be held at Thailand's Board of Trade, which also houses the Thai Chamber of Commerce. During this meeting, each member country will report the progress of the activities undertaken by each country and discuss future activities as well. The establishment of a task force with one government and one private sector representative from each country to implement and monitor projects and establish a mechanism to speed up the work undertaken by each member country has also been proposed. "We are also planning to redefine the sectors BIMST-EC wants to highlight as we want to introduce more subsectors. In the past, the services sector was totally neglected, but it is an area which needs attention," Embuldeniya said. The BIMST-EC Business Forum was formed in 1998 to fast-track economic cooperation by the private sector, chambers and associations of these countries. Each country has established a focal point and the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka is the focal point in Sri Lanka. Established in 1997, BIMST-EC is a regional grouping whose objective is to achieve trade and technical collaboration within the region, based on each member's economic strengths and capabilities. (SG) |
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