Dhaka, Colombo for early conclusion of PTA to foster trade

FE Team | Published: March 29, 2022 23:20:47

Colombo, Mar 29 (UNB): Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have laid emphasis on early conclusion of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with a hope that it will "widen" the bilateral trade significantly between the two South Asian countries.
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and his Sri Lankan counterpart Prof GL Peiris had a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 18th BIMSTEC ministerial meeting in Colombo on Tuesday.
They discussed areas of cooperation including diversification and expansion of the export basket.
The negotiations over the PTA are at an advanced stage, said Secretary (East) Mashfee Binte Shams, who attended the meeting.
Rector of Bangladesh Foreign Service Academy Asad Alam Siam and High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Sri Lanka Tareq Md Ariful Islam were also present.
The Sri Lankan foreign minister highly commended the great leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her policy against terrorism and violent extremism.
Foreign Minister Momen stressed initiating regular commercial shipping lines and cruise shipping for enhancement of trade and people to people contacts.
He also pointed out that the high price of air tickets is creating barriers to promoting tourism between the two countries.
The Sri Lankan foreign minister emphasised and echoed the position of Bangladesh leadership for better utilisation of Colombo port for transportation of Bangladeshi goods for the benefit of both the sides.
Both the foreign ministers agreed to work together in various regional and multilateral fora for common benefits.
Momen thanked his Sri Lankan counterpart for the warm hospitality and congratulated for hosting the BIMSTEC Summit preceded by the ministerial meeting and the senior officials meeting.
The Sri Lankan foreign minister recalled his visit to Dhaka last year in November and his meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh is looking into cash-strapped Sri Lanka's request for another loan of $250 million but no decision has been made yet, said Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen in Colombo on Tuesday.
"They've made another approach and we'll look into it. It'll be another loan but it's not decided yet," he said while responding to a question on the island nation's deepening financial crisis on the sidelines of the 18th BIMSTEC ministerial meeting.
Regarding the global uncertainty, he said it is not clear how things will work out (after the current situation in Ukraine) and mentioned that Bangladesh mostly depends on imported energy. "So, we're watching it and seeing how we can help each other."
Momen said when Sri Lanka faced difficulties Bangladesh, for the first time, went for a $250 million currency swap. "Sri Lanka is still finding difficulties. So, we extended the time for the repayment."
It was the first-ever loan to any country from Bangladesh under the currency swap agreement inked by the BB and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) on August 03 last year.