PAKISTAN AND SRI LANKA AGREE TO REDUCE TARIFF CONCESSIONS ON BETEL LEAVES AND HERBAL COSMETICS TO FURTHER BOOST TRADE

By Walter Jayawardhana

Pakistan and Sri Lanka have agreed to reduce tariff concession on betel leaves and herbal cosmetics during the first meeting of joint committee of Free Trade Agreement held between the two trade ministers in Colombo..

The Commerce meeting was co-chaired by Humayun Akhtar Khan Minister for Commerce and Prof G L Peiris, Minister for Export Development and International Trade of Sri Lanka.

The Pakistani delegation included Secretary Commerce Syed Asif Shah, Joint Secretary Commerce Shahid Bashir and Shahzad Chaudhry High Commissioner for Pakistan in Colombo.

The Sri Lankan delegation included Memo Wijerante Minister for Enterprise Development, Ms. Manel De Silva DG Commerce and others.

Humayun Akhtar said that the officials of both governments had played a proactive role in resolving issues, which arose during the initial implementation phase of the agreement.

Peiris calling the Free Trade Agreement a landmark said that trade has been increased after the agreement in both the countries.

Both sides discussed the future road map to faster bilateral economic and commercial linkage by initiating negotiations on trade in services, and investment.

He pointed to the need to reduce cost of doing trade, especially by SME sectors of both Pakistna and Sri Lanka.