Rishad in Hyderabad, meeting India’s Anand Sharma, UAE’s Lubna today for bilateral sessions

Sri Lanka will be holding two fresh bilateral trade sessions today in Hyderabad – one with India and the other with the United Arab Emirates.

The talks will be held at Andra Pradesh Hyderabad International Convention Centre in Hyderabad.

Minister of Industry and Commerce Bathiudeen is currently in Hyderabad as a member of the Sri Lankan delegation for the ‘New Age Innovation Partnership’ themed Partnership Summit 2012, held in Hyderabad, Andra Pradesh, India, which ends on 13 January.

Bathiudeen will lead the Sri Lanka team in both meetings. In these negotiations, Minister Bathiudeen will hold discussions with Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma, followed by UAE Minister of Foreign Trade Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, in separate afternoon sessions on 12 January.

“The latest rounds of talks are aimed at trade promotion between Sri Lanka and these two countries,” said Department of Commerce of Sri Lanka Director General P.D. Fernando. Minister Bathiudeen is also expected to extend the official Sri Lankan invitation for ‘Sri Lanka Expo 2012’ to India during the meeting with his Indian counterpart.

According to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the organisers of the Partnership Summit 2012, its sessions will focus on tourism and investment opportunities in the state of Andra Pradesh, along with high-level business networking among the participating countries.

About 1,500 delegates from 30 countries will take part in this three-day Partnership Summit at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre. Among the participating countries are Bangladesh, China, the Czech Republic, Ghana, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, USA, Zambia, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Turkey, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Mali.

Minister Bathiudeen will also be addressing the inaugural session of the Partnership Summit at 10:30 a.m. Hyderabad local time today (12).

India-Sri Lanka trade crossed the $ 4 b mark last year, from $ 656 m in 2000, thus recording a six-fold increase. India, which ranked as the 16th largest buyer of Sri Lanka in 2000, emerged as the third largest buyer of Sri Lankan products in 2003 and continues to hold this position. The trade balance is in favour of India.

Sri Lanka and UAE held a round of bilateral discussions on 23 November 2011 in Colombo amidst renewed trade ties between both countries. The talks were led by Minster Bathiudeen for Sri Lanka and Minister Lubna for the UAE.

During the bilateral talks, Sri Lanka also officially extended its invitation to UAE for the forthcoming ‘Expo 2012’ mega promotion show to be held in Colombo. UAE is the largest investor in Sri Lanka from the Gulf economies, having invested nearly $ 100 million. UAE has also been ranked as the third largest investor in Sri Lanka in 2010. Among the leading UAE investment groups in Sri Lanka are Al Futaim and Al Ghurair groups.