The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : “India-Sri Lanka FTA has helped cross-border trade”

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Friday, Nov 06, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

“India-Sri Lanka FTA has helped cross-border trade”

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

For the record: Governor Surjit Singh Barnala releasing a souvenir at the silver jubilee celebrations of the India-ASEAN Lanka Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Chennai on Thursday. The first copy was received by Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal (second from right).

CHENNAI: For the past nine years, the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement has helped free flow of trade across the borders and India’s look-east policy would add to expansion of trade and commerce in ASEAN countries and Sri Lanka, said Governor Surjit Singh Barnala on Thursday.

Participating in the Indo-ASEAN-Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IASLCCI) silver jubilee, he said: “The trade between India and ASEAN is flourishing. In the last financial year, the bilateral trade between India and ASEAN is more than $40 billion and it is aimed to achieve $50 billion by 2010.”

To mark the occasion, Mr. Barnala released a souvenir and presented mementos to past presidents.

In his address on ‘Investment and trade opportunities in Sri Lanka,’ Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Colombo, said that exciting times were ahead for investors as the Sri Lankan government was able to put behind it the raging conflict.

Mentioning that India enjoyed a special relationship with Sri Lanka in terms of trade, he said excellent opportunities were present in transport, tourism, oil exploration and banking sectors, among others, and it was time for private parties to make use of them.

“Infrastructure is being developed at a very fast phase. Three more ports are being constructed, road network has improved tremendously and telecom facilities are at a par with developed countries. The poverty issue is being addressed,” he said.

Vijay Iyengar, chairman, Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that Singapore housed more than 3,600 Indian-owned firms and they were the fastest-growing companies in the region. Singapore was also an ideal conduit for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to tap into China.

“After the signing of the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, the next step is to include investment and services. India and Singapore have been less affected by recession and it was time for both the countries to improve their market share and investments,” he said.

C.S. Muthu Subramaniyan, IASLCCI president, welcomed the gathering and traced the chamber’s history.

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