July 31, 2002	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 20,1423

KARACHI, July 30: Pakistan and Sri Lanka will sign Free Trade Agreement (FTA) during the official visit of President Pervez Musharraf to Colombo beginning on Wednesday.

The FTA would help expand trade and boost economic activities between the private sectors of both the countries, noted Trade Commissioner and Consul General of Sri Lanka in Karachi P. D. Fernando.

Talking to PPI on Tuesday he said that signing of FTA would facilitate in increasing present level of bilateral trade as well as joint ventures. It would help in penetrating each other’s markets in industrial goods and components.

He stressed that there is great potential for trade between the two countries to thrive as both the economies were complementing each other.

A visit by a Pakistani business delegation to Sri Lanka was planned in first week of September next to enhance awareness about Sri Lankan products available for export, their quality production capacity and terms of trade. A Sri Lankan team has already visited Pakistan to explore possibilities of sourcing industrial products from this country, he added.

Mr. Fernando spoke of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by both the countries in Karachi earlier this month under which components and products will be identified that can be offered to each other’s market and explore possibility of their exchanges.

“We will also hold an investment seminar in Karachi to detail facilities that have been extended by Board of Investment of Sri Lanka for investors,” he stated.

He said that trade between Pakistan and Sri Lanka has been dominated by commodities, and its volume more or less stagnant, when compared with increase of population and expansion of the two economies.—PPI