Continued C’Wealth trade support for SL

Sri Lanka has received assurances it will continue to get support for its international trade from the Commonwealth along with technical expertise to promote export diversification, the Industry and Commerce Ministry said in a statement yesterday. 

Industry and Commerce Ministry Rishad Bathiudeen is representing Sri Lanka at the inaugural Commonwealth Trade Ministers Meeting that opened in London. Joining Minister Bathiudeen is Sri Lanka’s Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama, and many other Trade Ministers from the Commonwealth.

In London, Bathiudeen was extended commonwealth support to develop Sri Lanka’s international trade, the Ministry statement said. 

“We are set to receive continued positive support from the Commonwealth for international trade,” he said after meeting Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland. 

“Sri Lanka’s historic relations with the Commonwealth stands further enhanced with this pioneering London event. Especially the ‘Agenda for Growth’ idea to promote trade, investment and job creation in member countries such as Sri Lanka shall help our unity government’s reform vision of industry and commerce.”

In a meeting with Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, Bathiudeen discussed the progress of the Commonwealth’s projects with Sri Lanka. The Secretary-General thanked Sri Lanka for its contribution to the Commonwealth Trade Finance Facility and discussed ongoing projects where the Secretariat is providing technical assistance to Sri Lanka. These include support with free trade agreement negotiations, designing an export diversification strategy and helping to set up an EXIM bank.

The inaugural Commonwealth Trade Ministers Meeting (CTMM) took place at Lancaster House in London on 9 and 10 March ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in the UK, with many Trade Ministers across the Commonwealth joining the event. The objective of CTMM is to reaffirm the commitment of Commonwealth member countries to a “transparent free and fair multilateral trading system,” and to define an ambitious Commonwealth led Agenda for Growth to promote trade, investment and job creation in member countries. This will support the target of increasing intra-Commonwealth trade to US$1 trillion by 2020. The recommendation to hold the March 9-10 meeting was an outcome of the Commonwealth Business Forum in Malta in November 2015.