Iraqi-SL trade talks begin in Baghdad

The latest Sri Lanka-Iraq Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation (JEC) commenced on 25 February in Baghdad. “Iraq is certainly an important market for us not only for tea but even for other prospective products. Similarly, there would be good opportunities for Iraq to promote its products with potential in Sri Lanka” said Rishad Bathiudeen (Minister of Industry and Commerce) on 25 February in Baghdad. Minister Bathiudeen was making his opening remarks at the eighth session of Sri Lanka Iraq Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation (JEC) that commenced on 25 February at Palestine Hotel, Baghdad.

Minister Bathiudeen was in Baghdad leading the 16 member strong Lankan delegation to Iraq for the eighth JEC. On its part, displaying an unprecedented interest, the Government of Iraq was fielding an official team of more than 30 members that consisted reps from such key Iraqi Ministries as Trade, Economic Relations, Transportation, and Industry & Minerals. Iraqi team at the Baghdad JEC session was led by Minister of Trade, Kheer-allah Hassan babaker Muhammad. Minister of Trade, babaker Muhammad, who shared similar sentiments on historic bilateral cooperation similar to Minister Bathiudeen, said: “Iraq side is keen to share the experiences of Sri Lanka particularly in the fields of investment promotion, Free trade zones, financial and Health sectors.”

According to the Department of Sri Lanka, the value of total trade between the two countries that stood at $ 8.72 Mn in 2003 topped $ 89.99 Mn in 2013. Sri Lanka exported goods totalling $ 89.80 Mn to Iraq and imported only goods of $ 0.19 Mn from Iraq during 2013. Tea has been a major export item to Iraq accounting for about 95% of Sri Lanka’s exports to Iraq, with an estimated 15,000MT of Ceylon tea is being exported indirectly through Dubai, Jordan and Kuwait.

Addressing the session, Minister Bathiudeen said: “The establishment of the Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation, between our two countries in 1975, opened a new chapter in our cooperation for development and enhancing our relations in diverse fields covering trade, economic and technical cooperation. This bilateral mechanism has played a crucial role, in bringing our two countries, much closer in different fields, which are of mutual interest to both of us. I am confident that our friendly relations will continue to bring the prosperity to the people of our countries, in years to come. At the 7th Session, held in Colombo in 2010, we focused on cooperation in trade, industry, investments, economic, agricultural, scientific and cultural fields. While a progress is seen in some areas, we are yet to explore the avenues for development in several other prospective sectors. Elimination of terrorism from the country and building the necessary economic infrastructure and gaining from the unique strategic location have brought Sri Lanka into a significant advantageous position for international trade. The second phase of the development policy frame work have been geared for Sri Lanka to become, Naval, Aviation, Commercial, Energy, Knowledge hub of Asia.

Such positioning of Sri Lanka is expected to establish closer integration with the countries in the region with the aim of establishing integrated value chains for mutual benefit. I am confident that both Sri Lanka and Iraq would be able to benefit on these developments taking into account the potential for greater economic cooperation.” Minister Bathiudeen added: “On bilateral trade, we observe, that there is a very slow progress which may be due to the prevailing circumstances. You would agree, that time has come, for a new beginning in our bilateral trade, to look beyond the limited activities at present. I need not highlight the fact, that the current trade is only limited to export of Ceylon tea to Iraq which recorded at US $ 90 million in 2013. Iraq is certainly an important market for us not only for tea but for other prospective products. Similarly , there would be good opportunities for Iraq to promote its products in Sri Lanka that are having a potential. It is therefore, important for us to identify the avenues available and the prospects for introducing new products to each other’s market. We are hopeful that with our continued dialogue and interactions, we will be able to find ways and means to overcome the practical difficulties and address those issues , towards achieving this common objective. I believe, the business community of our two nations need our encouragement , facilitation and assistance in this direction. The restoration of peace and normalcy has created a greater optimism, providing a strong basis, for long-term sustainable development, supported by conducive policies of the present Government . This significant growth resulted in increasing the GDP per capita, from US $ 1,062 in 2004 to over US $ 2,900 in 2012. The economy grew by an estimated 7.2 per cent in 2013, which is remarkable , in spite of external and domestic drawbacks. We expect Sri Lanka’s economy to grow over 8 per cent, in the near future. In this process of economic development, our international partners play a very important role with their active involvement in trade, economic and investment activities in Sri Lanka. A significant growth in foreign direct investment has been recorded during last few years. In 2013 we were able to attract Foreign Direct Investments over 1.2 billion U.S. dollars from different sources , covering projects in diverse sectors. There is a lot of renewed interest among the foreign investors in investment in prospective projects in different sectors. Sri Lanka’s highly literate skilled labour force, transparent investment laws guaranteed by the Constitution and the international agreements has made Sri Lanka, one of the most preferred investment destination, among the international business community. I wish to take this opportunity to invite Iraq business community to visit Sri Lanka and explore the opportunities available for them in their areas of interest. Sri Lanka is strategically located at the cross roads connecting east and west through sea and air routes. This is certainly the biggest advantage that we have in our economic development plan to make Sri Lanka a global commercial hub. Sri Lanka is increasingly becoming an attractive tourist destination for the travelers, since the dawn of peace in 2009. Tourist arrivals have dramatically increased during the last few years and in 2013, it has crossed one million. Government’s target is 2.5 million tourists arrivals by 2016. Tourist industry is one of the best opportunities that we have at the moment and the Government is making it a priority to develop tourism related infrastructure, to cater to this increasing tourist arrivals and develop this industry and the economy. We consider this Joint Commission is very important for our bilateral cooperation. I am confident with our mutual understanding, we will be able to discuss our proposals and address issues, that are before us, at this session of the Joint Commission for achieving the desired objectives.”