- Chinese Commerce Minister leads 115-member delegation for trade and investment forum
- Discussions aim to strengthen economic ties and identify new trade avenues
Sri Lanka and China are exploring to complete their long overdue free trade agreement (FTA) as the Chinese Commerce Minister will visit Colombo in the coming week, The Economic Times reported.
A high-level Chinese delegation led by its Commerce Minister Wang Wentao will attend the Sri Lanka-China Trade and Investment Forum in Colombo on 30 May, people familiar with the matter have told The Economic Times.
The 115-member business delegation representing 77 Chinese companies will engage with potential Sri Lankan business and investment partners at the forum hosted by The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and Sri Lankan commerce department.
The forum will offer “a platform to strengthen bilateral commercial ties, facilitate business matchmaking, and identify new trade and investment avenues, in a diverse range of sectors,” the Chamber said.
Sources have said that apart from discussing the China-Sri Lanka FTA, the countries are expected to sign two memoranda of understanding (MoU) - for establishing a working group on promoting trade, and strengthening economic cooperation in industrial and supply chains.
Chinese delegates visiting Sri Lanka will represent four major chambers representing various industries including textiles, machinery, electronic products, food stuff, native produce and animal by-product, sources cited above said.
Wang would co-chair the eighth session of the China-Sri Lanka Joint Committee on Economic and Trade Cooperation with his counterpart Wasantha Samarasinghe, it has been learnt.
The Sri Lankan foreign ministry has expressed apprehensions on the MoU on the digital economy because it encourages exchanges and cooperation at the local level that needs careful consideration due to constitutional limitations, sources said on the condition of anonymity.
Moreover, the MoU warrants broader stakeholder consultations in view of the sensitivity of the subject.
The Chinese delegation will also participate in the inaugural meeting of the China-Sri Lanka Working Group on Investment and Economic Cooperation, set up in accordance with an MoU signed during President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s visit to China in January.