Lanka, India trade to hit $ 5 billion by 2010
by Surekha Galagoda
Trade between Sri Lanka and India has reached US$ 2.5 billion after
signing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and Sri Lanka and
we are confident that it will reach US$ 5 billion by 2010, said Mission
Leader and Member Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Chairman and
Managing Director, Somany Ceramics Ltd, Shreekat Somany.
Addressing the media in Colombo, he said that much more can be done
to improve the trade and investment environment between the two
countries. India's exports to Sri Lanka are valued at US$ 2.25 billion
while Sri Lanka's exports to India are valued at US$ 470 million.
Somany said that there are many more areas to be explored in the FTA
and that is important and both countries have agreed to establish a
joint task force to look into tariff and non tariff barriers as soon as
possible.
He said the delegation of 12 members is interested in investing in
areas such as education, healthcare, paper, steel, IT and the services
sector. He said that Sri Lankan businessmen wanted them to invest in the
areas of sugar and education. In the area of healthcare, discussions are
continuing and they are confident that it will be finalised soon.
He said that due to rapid industrialisation there will be a dearth of
skilled manpower in both countries. Therefore, as a solution, in India
we have already started schemes for the purpose. Named Skilled
Development initiatives we have trained 1,000s in the areas of
electricity, plumbing. They work with ITI in partnership with the
government to improve the skills of the labour force in their country.
He said that they would also like to work with the Ceylon Chamber of
Commerce to improve the skills of the labour force in Sri Lanka to face
the challenges of the future.He invited Sri Lankan companies to visit
the Partnership Summit to be held from January 16-18 in New Delhi where
more than 1,000 delegates are expected to participate.
Somany called upon Sri Lankans to showcase Sri Lanka or host an
exhibition to showcase Sri Lankan products. He said that CII is a non
government, non profit making, industry led and industry managed
organisation playing a proactive role in India's development process.
Founded over 112 years ago it is India's premier business Association
with a direct membership of over 7,000 organisations from the private as
well as the public sector and an indirect membership of over 90,000
companies from around 362 national and regional sectoral associations.
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