Lankan-Indian Commerce Secretaries meet

Rajeev Kher, Commerce Secretary of Government of India visited Sri Lanka yesterday for official talks where he co-chaired talks with S.S. Miyanawala, Secretary, Ministry of Industry and Commerce.   They discussed issues including implementation of India-Sri Lankan FTA, trade, investments, economic cooperation and related issues, and upgrading the economic engagement to include investment and services. Issues pertaining to the imbalance in trade, non-tariff barriers were also taken up, a press release form the Indian High Commission said.   The two sides noted that the Joint Working Group on tourism is likely to meet in April 2015.  Both sides noted the importance of connectivity between the two countries and acknowledged that current levels of connectivity though good, needed to be further enhanced to boost tourism.   Both sides concurred on the importance of early resumption of ferry service between Talaimannar and Rameshwaram and Colombo and Tuticorin, as well as early conclusion of the Revised Air Services Agreement, which had been initialed in September 2013. It was decided to hold next round of consultations at a mutually convenient date in India.   The Indian delegation also included Y.K. Sinha, High Commissioner of India and Shri Arvind Mehta, Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce. The current round of consultations was the third round of Commerce Secretary level interactions, the earlier rounds having taken place in Colombo in June 2013 and in New Delhi in January 2014.