Pakistan – Sri Lanka relations

Relations between the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka are generally warm. In the past, Pakistan has been a major ally of Sri Lanka in supplying High-Tech military equipment to the Sri Lankan army in the civil war against the Tamil rebels prevailing in the country.

There is a Pakistani embassy located in Sri Lanka and a Sri Lankan embassy situated in Pakistan.

Contents
1 Sri Lanka-Pakistan economic cooperation
2 Sri Lanka Pakistan defense cooperation
3 Growing ties


Sri Lanka-Pakistan economic cooperation
Pakistan is the second largest trading partner of Sri Lanka within the South Asian region. Sri Lanka was the first country to sign a FTA with Pakistan. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Pakistan and Sri Lanka is operational from June 12, 2005. Covering 100 per cent duty concession offered by Pakistan on 206 products and by Sri Lanka on 102 products the FTA has been implemented

Items in the zero duty list of Pakistan include frozen fish, vegetables, spices, fruits/juices, polymers of vinyl chloride in primary forms, natural rubber, raw silk, tanned/crust skins, wool, some varieties of paper and board, carpet and floor covering, non-alloy aluminum, iron and steel products and toys/dolls

Sri Lanka’s nil duty items under the FTA include chickpeas, dates, oranges, benzene, toluene, apparel and clothing accessories, ball bearing, penicillin/streptomycin/tetracycline and their derivatives and vacuum flasks

The FTA specifically provides that the two parties honor the principle of national treatment embodied in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Sri Lanka Pakistan defense cooperation
Sri Lanka started buying arms and ammunition from Pakistan in a big way from 1999. The total purchases until December 2007 were worth $50 million while there has been a sudden jump in the quantity of merchandise ordered in 2009 and the amount has been tripled.

With India reluctant to sign a Defense Cooperation Agreement with Sri Lanka and unwilling to supply it with the kind of weapons it is looking for, Colombo has turned increasingly to Pakistan. There are segments of opinion in Sri Lanka that are in fact in favor of the government finalizing a defense cooperation agreement with Islamabad.

In May 2000, President Musharraf of Pakistan supplied millions of dollars of much-needed weapons to the Sri Lankan government, when separatist Tamil Tiger rebels were about to recapture their former capital of Jaffna.

In August 2006, suspected LTTE rebels attempted to assassinate Pakistan's ambassador to Sri Lanka, Bashir Wali Mohamed, with a claymore mine in Colombo. Mohamed was not hurt but seven others died.

In May 2008, Lt. Gen Sarath Fonseka of the Sri Lanka Army held talks with his Pakistan Army counter-parts regarding the sale of military equipment, weapons and ammunition. The sale of 22 Al-Khalid MBTs to the Sri Lanka Army was finalised during these talks in a deal worth over US$100 million.

In April 2009, Sri Lanka requested $25 million worth of 81 mm, 120 mm and 130 mm mortar ammunition to be delivered within a month.

Growing ties
Shortly after the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka, Islamabad congratulated Sri Lanka and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hussein A. Bhaila of Sri Lanka called Pakistan a true friend saying:

"The government and the people of Sri Lanka have considered Pakistan as a true friend of Sri Lanka, which has always stood by it in times of need..."