Sri Lanka has clinched continued support for its international trade work from the Commonwealth.
Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen represented Sri Lanka at the inaugural Commonwealth Trade Ministers Meeting that opened in London on Thursday.
Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade, Malik Samarawickrama was also present.
Minister Bathiudeen has been extended Commonwealth support to develop Sri Lanka’s international trade in many ways.
“We had very successful talks with Patricia Scotland, Secretary-General of Commonwealth,” said Minister Bathiudeen over phone. “We are set to receive continued positive support from the Commonwealth to our international trade work as a result.”Minister Bathiudeen added: “The “Agenda for Growth” idea to promote trade, investment and job creation in member countries such as Sri Lanka shall help our unity government’s reform vision of industry and commerce.”
During the talks, the Secretary-General Scotland thanked Sri Lanka for their contribution to the Commonwealth Trade Finance Facility and discussed ongoing projects where the Secretariat is providing technical assistance to Sri Lanka. These include support with free trade agreement negotiations, designing an export diversification strategy and helping to set up an export/import bank.
The inaugural Commonwealth Trade Ministers Meeting (CTMM) took place at Lancaster House in London from March 9 to 10 in preparation of the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in the UK, with many Trade Ministers across the C’Wealth joining the event.
The objective of CTMM is to reaffirm the commitment of Commonwealth member countries to a ‘transparent free and fair multilateral trading system’, and to define an ambitious Commonwealth led ‘Agenda for Growth’ to promote trade, investment and job creation in member countries.
This will support the target of increasing intra-Commonwealth trade to US$1 trillion by 2020.