The Hon. R.M. Jayawardhana - Deputy Minister of Trade, Commerce and Food Security
On behalf of the Minister, the Deputy Minister tabled details on the Pakistan–Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement, noting that it was signed in 2002, entered into force in 2005, covers goods, and aims to expand bilateral trade by removing barriers and ensuring fair competition. He provided year-wise figures for Sri Lanka’s exports to and imports from Pakistan under the agreement from 2020 to 2025, alongside Pakistan’s reported trade figures for recent years. He stated that a high-level committee chaired by the Ministry Secretary is reviewing Sri Lanka’s free trade agreements, with a final report expected to be submitted to Cabinet in June 2026, after which future directions on the PSFTA will be decided.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, on behalf of the Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Co-operative Development, I table the answer.
¶ 02 - The Pakistan–Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (PSFTA) was signed on 01 August 2002 and came into force on 12 June 2005. It covers only goods and is Sri Lanka’s second bilateral FTA. - Objectives include: promoting harmonious economic development through expansion of trade in goods and services; providing fair competitive conditions for trade; contributing to development and expansion of bilateral and global trade by removing barriers. - Values of Sri Lanka’s exports to Pakistan and imports from Pakistan under the PSFTA (USD million): - 2020: Exports 52.96; Imports 10.81 - 2021: Exports 62.25; Imports 12.32 - 2022: Exports 55.26; Imports 12.06 (Pakistan to Sri Lanka: Exports 77.84; Imports 342.32) - 2023: Exports 45.87; Imports 10.59 (Pakistan to Sri Lanka: Exports 132.98; Imports 323.00) - 2024: Exports 46.22; Imports 24.15 (Pakistan to Sri Lanka: Exports 76.25; Imports 456.66) - 2025: Exports 47.52; Imports 18.06 (Pakistan to Sri Lanka: Exports 74.77; Imports 351.17) - A high-level committee chaired by the Secretary of the Ministry has been appointed to review Sri Lanka’s FTAs and recommend future directions. A comprehensive review is underway and the final report is expected to be submitted to Cabinet in June 2026. Future directions, including on the PSFTA, will be decided thereafter.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Wednesday, 20 May 2026 ·No. 23618 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. R.M. Jayawardhana - Deputy Minister of Trade, Commerce and Food Security. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 20 May 2026. No. 23618. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/19210