Thailand Seeks To Establish FTA With Sri Lanka

By Mohd Haikal Mohd Isa BANGKOK, March 8 (Bernama) -- Thai Deputy Prime Minister, Somkid Jatusripitak, will lead a trade delegation to Sri Lanka where he will convey the kingdom's intention to establish a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombo. He said the delegation, which would include several key ministers from commerce, industry and transport as well from the private sectors, will visit Sri Lanka from March 9 to 12. "Even though Sri Lanka is a small country, we should not forget that it has an FTA with India and therefore during this trip, we will tell them (Sri Lanka) that we are keen on an FTA with them," he told the media here Monday. Thai companies, he said, could take advantage and use Sri Lanka as a gateway to enter the lucrative Indian market due to the FTA between both neighbours. Among the sectors that Thai companies were interested to invest in Sri Lanka he said, were banking, hotel, construction, consumer products, agriculture, healtcare and others. He said the Sri Lankan government welcomed investments from Thai companies and has selected 100 of its companies for business-matching sessions with Thai firms. "I think this a good opportunity for investments (in Sri Lanka)," he said. --BERNAMA