Envoy says scope exists to boost Indo-Sri Lanka trade

Trade between India and Sri Lanka has increased tenfold after the Free Trade Agreement but more could still be done, said High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, Y.K. Sinha.

At a meeting organised by the India-ASEAN-Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Thursday, he said his concern was that more than 70% of India’s exports to Sri Lanka were outside the FTA route, something he felt “needs to be addressed.” 

Bilateral trade between the two countries stood at $ 4.6 billion in 2014.

Sinha indicated that once the 250-MW power plants built by India went live, the island nation would have added capacity. 

“Once we have a surplus we can have energy trade between the island nation and Tamil Nadu,” he said. For this, Sinha said, submarine cables needed to be installed with the support of the Government of India and Tamil Nadu.

Talking about the potential investment, he said: “Tamil Nadu should look at Northern Sri Lanka. The environment has changed there.” 

He also spoke about the immense opportunity which existed in technical education and the IT and ITES sector.

“IT is one area where the island nation has missed the bus. India and Sri Lanka share the same time zone. This should be tapped for IT and ITES-related services,” he said.

The High Commissioner to India also said: “Things have changed with the change in Government.”

(The Hindu)