President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday called for stepping up efforts to fully realise the potential of the Free Trade Agreement with Sri Lanka and building a mutually-beneficial economic and trade partnership to jack up bilateral trade from current $375 million to a $2 billion target in the next three years. The president urged to further explore the currency swap agreement with Sri Lanka, which, he said would provide huge incentives to business houses in both countries to actively explore and enhance business linkages as they using local currencies for trade. He said this during a meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart, President Mahinda Rajapaksa followed by delegation level talks at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Briefing the reporters, President’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said matters regarding Pakistan-Sri Lankan relations, mutual cooperation with special reference to trade and commercial ties besides regional and international issues were discussed during the meeting. The president welcomed President Rajapaksa and members of delegation to the Presidency and expressed hope that the visit would help boost the bilateral ties. He recalled his previous visit to Colombo in November 2010, saying the two countries had always enjoyed special bonds of affinity. He said the relations had also been marked by a measure of consistency and commonality of views on important regional and global issues, the president said and added that the two countries had stood together and supported each other in all important matters concerning our two countries.
During the meeting, the president called upon the business community and the Chambers of Commerce of the two countries to fully avail the huge trade and business potential the two countries offer in diverse fields including financial and banking sector, science and technology, defence, agriculture, tourism, gems and jewellery besides promoting cultural exchanges between the two countries. He proposed the establishment of a direct shipping service between the two countries, which he said would help enhance the level of bilateral trade. Zardari praised the Sri Lankan government for its important contribution made in assisting Pakistan to cope with the outbreak of dengue fever last year. He asked for mutual cooperation in this regard and proposed training of nurses to deal with such epidemic in future.
