Plans are underway to have shipping and an air link between in India and Jaffna soon said Consul General of India in Jaffna, V. Mahalingam stated in Jaffna International Trade Fair 2014.
These two important links could improve people-to-people contacts and substantially improve trade and economic relations, and he stated that “We look forward to a ferry service between Talaimannar and Rameswaram. These two happening at an early date which will give a great boost to economic development of Northern Sri Lanka.”
“These kind of international fairs are important to showcase the various strengths of the country while air and sea links would have a far greater reach to the common people and encourage in developing better relationship with each other.”
Efforts to complete the infrastructure around the Atchuvely Industrial Zone to encourage the entrepreneurs of Northern Province to set up their units at the Industrial estate will be completed by end January 2014
“Since the operationalization of the India – Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2000, trade alone has multiplied by as much as 8 times, crossing the milestone of USS 5 billion in 2011-12. The FTA has thus proved to be a real engine of growth for bilateral Commercial interaction.”
In 2011-12, India’s imports from Sri Lanka went up by almost 45% to cross USS 720 million, making Sri Lanka the largest source of merchandise from the South Asian region for India. This is a big jump from USS 45 million imports in 2000-01, when Sri Lanka occupied the fourth rank as an import source for India in the region. There is no doubt that the FTA brought significant benefits to both sides.
“As against global two way trade of US $ 30 billion with Sri Lanka in 2011, the overall trade has come down to US$24.5 billion in 2013.I am confident as the world economy picks up, India Sri Lanka trade also will continue to grow.”
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