Indonesia- Sri Lanka agreed to increase trade cooperation. Among others by forming a special working group tasked with addressing and overcoming trade and investment barriers between the two countries. The Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Indonesia, Dharsana Perera revealed it in a special interview with Voice of Indonesia in Jakarta, Friday, February 2, 2018.
"We agree to establish what is refered to a working group on trade and investment to find ways and means to enhancing this overall relationship. So, that is very important mechanism of focus on the trade and investment area that will now be initiated between the two countries," Dharsana Perera said.
The increasing cooperation in the trade and investment sectors between Indonesia and Sri Lanka is a follow up of a bilateral meeting conducted by President Joko Widodo and Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena last month in Colombo, Sri Lanka. President Joko Widodo on his visit sought to encourage the economies of both countries to be more competitive through the formation of trade and investment working groups accompanied by the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Trade cooperation between Indonesia and Sri Lanka has actually been established for a long time. The cooperation can be seen from the trade data of both countries. Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) data throughout 2016 shows the trade value of two countries reached US $ 306.5 million. (Rezha;transbyAlika)