Sri Lanka and Türkiye have held talks aimed at expanding bilateral trade toward the US$500 million target set under the Joint Economic Commission framework, Hiru News reported, citing a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The discussion took place on 10 September between Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Türkiye, Niluka Kadurugamuwa, and Türkiye’s Deputy Minister of Trade, Mustafa Tuzcu.
Both sides identified convening the 4th session of the Sri Lanka–Türkiye Joint Economic Commission in Ankara in 2027 as a key step toward sustaining economic momentum.
What each side raised
Ambassador Kadurugamuwa set out the advantages of sourcing from Sri Lanka, the country’s investment incentives regime and the range of opportunities open to Turkish investors. She also drew attention to specific challenges faced by Sri Lankan exporters, stressing the importance of resolving them given Türkiye’s standing as a key export market.
Deputy Minister Tuzcu said direct air connectivity between Istanbul and Colombo provides strong support for increasing trade, and identified construction and tourism as sectors offering major opportunities for Turkish businesses.
He agreed to help encourage prospective Turkish traders and investors to explore Sri Lanka, and undertook to give further consideration to the export concerns Sri Lanka had raised.
The Ambassador was accompanied by Minister Nilusha Dilmini and First Secretary (Commercial) Dilanga Hettiarachchi of the Sri Lankan Embassy in Ankara.
Not reported
The report does not say what the specific challenges facing Sri Lankan exporters are — the central substantive item the Ambassador raised — nor what form “further consideration” by the Turkish side would take, or by when.
It gives no current bilateral trade figure against which the US$500 million goal can be measured, and does not say when that target was originally set or what timeframe attaches to it. Nor does it say when the third session of the commission was held, what it produced, or why the fourth is being scheduled for 2027 rather than sooner.
No date, agenda or preparatory timetable for the Ankara session is given, and neither side is reported as announcing any new agreement, concession or commitment arising from the meeting.
Searches of Daily FT, Daily News, Colombo Gazette, The Island, news.lk, EconomyNext and Lanka Business Online returned no other report of this meeting at the time of writing.
