Businesses welcome FTA move

Top businesspeople from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka yesterday welcomed the two countries' decision to sign a free trade agreement.

They spoke at a programme -- “Bangladesh and Sri Lanka investment and business dialogue: Moving towards greater economic partnership” -- at a hotel in Dhaka.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena attended the dialogue along with Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Principal Coordinator on SDG Affairs Abul Kalam Azad.

On Friday, Dhaka and Colombo agreed to sign an FTA by 2017 to boost bilateral trade. 

Two-way trade between the two countries stood at $75.47 million in 2015-16, according to a number of trade bodies. Bangladesh's exports stood at $30.45 million and Sri Lanka's $45.02 million in the year.

“The current volume of bilateral trade is nothing. We want to expand our business and investment with the island nation,” said Md Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.   “I hope after the signing of the FTA, the businesses and investments between the two Saarc nations will expand a lot, which will benefit both the countries,” he added.

Nihad Kabir, president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka, welcomed the move to sign the FTA.

She said both the countries can work together in areas such as tourism, fishing and maritime resource exploration to take the economic and trade relations to a new height.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake assured Bangladeshi investors of approving investment proposals in Sri Lanka within 10 days.

WKH Wegapitiya, chairman of Laugfs Holdings Ltd of Sri Lanka, expressed satisfaction over the support of the Bangladeshi authorities to expand his group's business here.

The planned FTA would boost business and investment, he said.

Rasith Wickramasingha, group director of Ceylon Biscuits Group of Sri Lanka, who has invested in Bangladesh, said Bangladesh's market is rapidly growing in IT and food-processing.

He urged Sri Lankan businessmen to come forward with investment as Bangladesh is a good destination.

Syed Nasim Manzur, former president of the MCCI, requested the Bangladesh government to simplify the visa processing for Sri Lankans to help deepen ties between the two countries.

Kazi M Aminul Islam, executive chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, called upon Sri Lanka businessmen to attain the “one-stop service” being provided by the agency.