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| Sunday, 12 January 2003 |
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Lanka - Pakistan FTA coming on track by SUREKHA GALAGODA Ravi Karunanayake, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs will lead a delegation to Pakistan early next month to finalise the requirements leading to the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The delegation led by the Minister will include the Director General and senior officials of the Commerce Department, representatives of the Ministries of Finance, Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion and Foreign Affairs. D.G.A.P. Dharmapriya, Deputy Director of Commerce said that at the discussions to be held on February 6 and 7, the two delegations from Sri Lanka and Pakistan will finalise the annexures which include Sri Lanka's concession list and no concession list as well as Pakistan's concession list and no concession list and the Rules of Origin criteria. Sri Lanka has 5400 items in the concession list and 700 items in the no concession list. Pakistan has 6600 items in the concession list and 400 in the no concession list. He said that once the agreement comes into force, some items from the concessions lists of both countries will be zero rated while other items in Sri Lanka's list will be zero rated within a time frame of five years while Pakistan will phase out duty within three years. Once the annexures are finalised in February, the agreement will be implemented within 90 days after the countries have notified each other through diplomatic channels that their constitutional requirements and procedures have been completed. Two technical consultations were held prior to the ministerial meetings in 200l and April 2002 to finalise the draft text of the agreement. The Framework Treaty on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was signed by Pakistan's Federal Minister for Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood and Minister Karunanayake in the presence of Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraff and Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on August 1 at Temple Trees. The objectives of the FTA are promoting economic relations through expansion of trade in goods and services, providing fair conditions for competition and removing barriers to develop and expand bilateral as well as world trade. The agreement can be terminated by giving six months written notice. Direction of Trade (in rupees million) Tea |
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