Sri Lanka, Bangladesh likely to sign FTA in March

Colombo, Nov 10 (NIA) – Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are likely to sign a Free Trade Agreement in March, next year, which will boost trade and pave way for a huge cross border cargo transshipment via the Port of Colombo, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Bangladesh’s Commerce Minister, Tofail Ahmed, who is visiting Sri Lanka on an official visit said that the Sri Lanka, Bangladesh FTA can become a reality when Sri Lanka’s high level leaders visit Dhaka in March.

“Today both sides completed trade discussions successfully,” the Bangladesh Minister said.

“The Shipping Ministry of Bangladesh is also cooperating in this. We decided to use Colombo port in our future transshipment’s as we feel other regional ports to be expensive,” he added.

Through its feeder vessels, Bangladesh already transships to USA and Europe via Port Kelang, Singapore and Colombo.

Transshipment’s to Europe, Middle East and US via the Colombo Port is considered to bring in great savings for Bangladeshi exporters, saving as many as four shipping days to US alone, the Minister said.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Commerce, Rishard Bathiudeen, during discussions invited Bangladeshi companies to invest in state pioneered projects in Sri Lanka, as well as in the country’s apparel industry.

Total bilateral trade between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh which stood at 48 million dollars in 2010, has grown by 2.7 fold to 131 million dollars by 2015.

Sri Lanka’s exports to Bangladesh saw a steady increase in the past five years. In 2013 it recorded the highest increase of 45%.