Foreign Minister Gunawardena urges for action to improve SAARC intra-regional trade

Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena has urged that  the SAARC member countries  take action to improve intra-trade in the region without compromising security concerns.

The Minister made these remark at an event to commemorate the 35^th SAARC Charter Day at the Taj Samudra Hotel recently, organised by the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

According to a statement released from the Ministry of Foreign Relations, the Minister in his speech underlined the need to address the current unsatisfactory intra-trade figures that currently stand below 6% in the South Asia region that hosts over 20% of the global population. 

He compared ASEAN as an example for SAARC to replicate and that the ASEAN region has over 22% intra trade in a region of less than 9% of the world’s population.

While recognizing the existing strong policy framework in the SAARC region for trade expansion, Minister Gunawardena called for flexibility in trade negotiations to support  the smaller economies in the region, including Sri Lanka. 

He also emphasized the need to protect the environment, which is a challenging issue for the region faced with unprecedented natural disasters and erratic weather patterns, the statement said.

The Charter-Day event was attended by the Colombo based SAARC diplomatic missions and the business community.

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