Trade boost: Lanka envoy in India holds follow-up talks

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India, Milinda Moragoda met with the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi, to follow up on the key areas that were discussed during their last meeting in February.

The key areas discussed in February included mechanisms relating to the expansion of bilateral trade, the ways to establish and promote rupee trade between Sri Lanka and India as a means of economic recovery in Sri Lanka, and the possibility of further bilateral integration in the textiles and garment sector.

At the meeting, the progress made so far in these key areas was reviewed by the Indian Commerce Minister and the Sri Lankan High Commissioner.

Special attention was given to the area of trade expansion as a means of the economic recovery of Sri Lanka, and the way forward in this regard was discussed in detail.

In this context, High Commissioner Moragoda reiterated the key role that India, with its projected growth rate of 6.7% for 2024, could play in Sri Lanka’s economic recovery.

A Chartered Accountant by profession, Shri Piyush Goyal also holds the Ministerial portfolios of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution as well as Textiles. He is the Leader of the House of the Rajya Sabha, the upper House of the Indian Parliament. He has also held the Ministerial portfolios of Railways, Finance, Corporate Affairs, Coal, Power, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, previously.