The Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, this relates both to the Trade, Commerce and Food Security Ministry and to the Committee.

¶ 02 Hon. Speaker, I present the Report of the Committee on Public Finance on the Orders made under Section 84, read with Sections 64, 65, 66, 69 and 70 and with Section 45(5), of the Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties Act, No. 2 of 2018, referred to the Committee.

¶ 03 Ordered to lie upon the Table.

¶ 04 May I have a minute to present a matter. What is important here, Hon. Speaker, is the many decisions we must take regarding international trade on tariff and non-tariff matters. Since discussions are also ongoing with President Trump these days, I wish to recall this. I raised this with the Committee and with the Ministry of Trade. We need a National Tariff Policy as part of a National Trade Policy. It was proposed at the Committee that the National Tariff Policy be brought for debate at this stage.

¶ 05 Also, legislation has been drafted to establish an International Trade Office. We reminded Hon. Members at the Committee about this as well. I wish to note it here too, as this is an immediate need.

¶ 06 Another matter, Hon. Speaker: for the first time, we used AI technology to conduct a live demonstration within our Committee on Public Finance. We expect to increase efficiency—minutes, long minutes, summaries, reports—can all be generated through AI. We did it as a first trial. With the consent of all Members, as Chair I informed you by letter. Please consider taking it forward, as this can enhance efficiency not only in our Committee but across all Committees.