Govt. kicks off regional consultation on new trade strategy from Kandy

The Government has embarked on a number of development initiatives to open up new doors for the country to move Sri Lanka towards an advanced economy by adopting a private sector-led, export-based, FDI-driven development strategy. 

As part of this overall strategy, negotiations of Free Trade Agreements with India, China and Singapore are currently being carried out, taking possible costs and benefits of such engagement into account through stakeholder consultation. 

In line with that, to raise awareness and obtain input, stakeholder consultation meetings for industry chambers, professional associations and other stakeholders are regularly conducted in Colombo. 

The importance of raising awareness among regional level trade chambers, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders has been identified; therefore, the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade has decided to broaden the stakeholder consultation process to regional level.

Accordingly, the first regional level consultation meeting has been organised collaboratively with Kandy District Secretariat from 10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at the Auditorium of Kandy District Secretariat on 1 June.

These consultation sessions will be conducted by the members of National Trade Negotiating Team. It would be an ideal platform to regional level trade chambers and entrepreneurs to raise their concerns and be alerted about the potential business opportunities of the proposed FTAs.