Jeyaraj in Chennai to promote trade

Minister of Trade, Commerce, Consumer Affairs and Marketing Development and Highways Jeyaraj Fernandopulle left for Chennai, India to attend a conference organised by the Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), a leading trade chamber in South India in association with the Sri Lanka Deputy High Commission in Chennai, on "Enlargement of Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement."

The Minister delivered a special address at the inaugural session of the conference at Hotel Chola Sheraton on Friday.

The conference aims at creating a wider awareness among the South Indian business community of the enlargement of the current Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISPTA) into a much broader Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and the resultant business and investment opportunities.

The proposal is expected to promote closer linkages between the two countries not only in the field of merchandise trade, but also in other key sectors such as trade in services and investment promotion. The CEPA will also facilitate economic cooperation in several areas such as power and energy, education, transport, information and communication technology (ICT).

The ISFTA, signed in December 1998 and entered into force from March 2000, has played a key role in re-shaping the Indo-Sri Lanka bilateral trade relations. For the first time in history, the value of the two-way trade between India and Sri Lanka exceeded the 1.0 billion US dollar mark in 2002.

This represents a substantial increase of nearly 80%, when compared with the US$560 million two-way trade registered in 1999, just a year before the ISFTA came into operation. By the end of 2005, this value had reached 1.99 billion US dollars or almost 2.0 billion mark. The value of trade-led Indian investments in Sri Lanka too have increased from a mere US$4.8 million in 1999 to US$115.0 million by the end of 2004.

The Minister visited the Sri Lanka Trade Centre, Spencer Plaza, Chennai, where a number of Sri Lankan export companies had set up promotional windows for their products. The Minister exchanged views with the stallholders on the overall progress made by the centre and the problems faced by them in promoting their products.

To explore the possibility of fostering mutually beneficial linkages between the Small and Medium sector entrepreneurs of the two countries, the Minister visited the Ambattur Industrial Estate in Chennai yesterday.

He addressed the Ambattur Industrial Estate Manufacturers' Association with special emphasis on the opportunities and the conducive business environment rendered by the ISFTA for creating strategic alliances between the private sector entrepreneurs of the two countries.

A large number of prominent business firms from India took part in the conference, while the Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka also took part along with a group of leading business entrepreneurs.
