ETCA agreement to be signed despite opposition

The Government today announced that the ETCA agreement with India will be signed soon.

The announcement was made by Minister for Development strategies and International Trade?Malik Samarawickrema at a joint press conference with visiting?Indian Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman in Colombo today.

Nirmala Sitharaman visited Sri Lanka with the objective of enhancing and deepening bilateral trade and investment relations.

She discussed various bilateral trade and investment issues with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe over an official dinner hosted in her honour.

During the visit, a meeting of the India-Sri Lanka Business Forum was held. Many issues relating to trade, services and investment were highlighted and it was agreed that their resolution be explored.

The Commerce and Industry Minister also had a bilateral meeting with a high level Sri Lankan delegation led by Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade of Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan delegation also included other Sri Lankan Ministers namely Nimal Siripala de Silva, Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Sujeewa Senasinghe, State Minister of International Trade, Ajith P. Perera, Deputy Minister for Power and Renewable Energy and Ms Anoma Gamage, Deputy Minister of Petroleum Resources Development.

The leaders expressed satisfaction on the progress of the proposed Economic and Technology Co-operation Agreement (ETCA) between India and Sri Lanka. It was noted that the Second Round of negotiations for the ETCA is scheduled to take place in New Delhi on September 29-30, 2016. The leaders also discussed several other issues related to bilateral trade and investment.

The deliberations were extremely cordial and marked by a spirit of mutual respect and understating that characterizes the strong and vibrant relations between the two countries.

The visit has emphasised the importance of Sri Lanka as an important trading and investment partner for India and would help in further deepening the existing bilateral relations. (Colombo Gazette)