Cabinet instructs to draft legislation for proposed International Trade Office

The Cabinet greenlight has been granted to instruct the Legal Draftsman to draft the bill for the proposed International Trade Office.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policy on Monday sought the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers to instruct the Legal Draftsman to prepare the International Trade Office Bill based on the preliminary draft already prepared.

The Cabinet of Ministers initially approved the establishment of the International Trade Office in October based on a proposal in the interim budget for 2022. The proposed International Trade Office is planned to be established under the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policy with plans to transfer it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs later on. The proposed Agency is expected to interconnect all the relevant institutions and synergise their work in order to obtain the maximum output from the external trade sector to the national economy. 
It would be tasked with carrying out all future trade negotiations on behalf of the government.