Major milestone in US-SL trade to be reached today

A major milestone in the historic US-Sri Lanka bilateral trade will be reached today when the Work Plan under US-Sri Lanka Trade and Investment Framework (TIFA) goes into immediate effect after inked by both sides.

On April 28, 2016 in Washington, DC, the 12th US-Sri Lanka TIFA Council meeting was held co-chaired by US Trade Representative Michael Froman and Sri Lanka Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama.

With a goal of significantly increasing two-way trade and investment between the US and Sri Lanka, the two governments adopted a US-Sri Lanka Joint Action Plan to Boost Trade and Investment at the April 28 TIFA Council meeting.

 
The intersessional meeting of 12th TIFA Joint Council Meeting will be held in Colombo today joined by the visiting Assistant US Trade Representative for South Asia Michael J. Delaney. “I am here to complete the work plan under the US-Sri Lanka Joint Action Plan finalised on April 28 in Washington, DC,” Delaney said. “We are finalising the work plan tomorrow September 1 in Colombo and it will go into effect immediately,” he added.

In 2015, total bilateral trade between the two countries stood at US $ 3.3 billion.  According to the Commerce Department of Sri Lanka, the US continues to be the largest single export market for Sri Lanka having absorbed 23 percent of Sri Lanka’s total exports. 

US-Sri Lanka bilateral trade jumped 33 percent in the five-year period from 2011.