Minister Dar conveyed his government's desire to increase the bilateral trade with Sri Lanka when the island nation's new High Commissioner to Pakistan retired Major General Jayanath Lokuketagodage called on the Minister in Islamabad on Saturday (March 12). He said that both countries could jointly work to achieve this objective.

The High Commissioner said that Sri Lanka strongly desired to expand its economic cooperation with countries in the region, especially Pakistan. He said it would be his endeavor to further promote Pakistan-Sri Lanka contacts.

The bilateral trade between Pakistan and Sri Lanka has not shown promising growth despite the existence of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) since June 2005. At present, the volume of trade between Pakistan and Sri Lanka is US$ 350 million, which the two countries want to increase to US$ 1 billion by expanding its scope.