Monday, 26 August 2013 00:00
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Two ministers in charge of commerce and four commerce secretaries from member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday.
During the discussion with the president, they stressed on the need for further strengthening bilateral relations between SAARC nations.
The group included Ghulam Muhammed Quader, Minister of Commerce of Bangladesh, Lyonpo Norby, Minister of Economic Affairs of Bhutan, Janardan Nepal, Secretary Ministry of Commerce and Supply of Nepal, Qasim Mohammed Niaz, Secretary Ministry of Commerce and Textile Industry of Pakistan, Arvind Mehta, Joint Secretary Commerce, Ministry of Commerce, India, Hussain Shihab, High Commissioner of Maldives, Ahmed Saleem, Secretary General, SAARC. They were here in Colombo to attend the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Ministerial Council Meeting that took place in Friday (23).
President Rajapaksa, while expressing Sri Lanka’s willingness to further strengthen bilateral relations between SAARC nations in all sectors especially in areas of trade, investment and tourism, said with the defeat of terrorism and return of peace, that there is a highly favourable environment for investment in Sri Lanka.
“The city of Colombo itself is a symbol of development progress that Sri Lanka has acquired recently,” said Quader, Commerce Minister of Bangladesh. Indian Secretary of Commerce Mehta pointed out the need to pay more attention to joint investment ventures among the countries of the region. During the discussion with the President, the next SAARC summit to be held in the first quarter of the next year in Nepal was also mentioned.
Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of industry and Commerce, Anura Sririwardena, Secretary, Ministry of Industry and Commerce and P.D. Fernando, Director General of Commerce were also present on the occasion.
