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| Tuesday, 18 June 2002 |
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Second Indo-Lanka FTA to create harmonious trade ties by Channa Kasturisinghe Sri Lanka and India have agreed to discuss the signing of an FTA Part Two following several amendments and new proposals put forward by Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake at the Joint Ministerial Committee under the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement. According to senior Government sources it is very likely that the signing of the FTA Two will be discussed during the visit of a high powered Sri Lankan delegation led by the Commerce Secretary of India next month. The second agreement which was a direct result of the high level negotiations between the two countries held in India last week will include services such as health, insurance, education and aviation sectors. During last week's talks the Sri Lankan delegation raised the issue of the inclusion of trade in services under the present FTA as it would benefit the service providers of both countries especially in the areas of transshipment, tourism and professional services. The Indian delegation agreed to Sri Lanka's proposal in principle to form a Working Group which could examine the issue in greater detail. Since the original Indo Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement signed two years ago in March 2000 under the previous People's Alliance Government, several discrepancies and flaws had emerged which were not favourable to the Sri Lankan side, thereby creating a huge deficit between the two markets. Following the recent Indian visit by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the subsequent discussions held between the Prime Ministers of both countries it was felt that a more concerted effort has to be made to make the present FTA more effective which guarantees high returns to both countries. Minister Ravi Karunanayake under whom the subject of the FTA lies lost no time in reviewing the agreement in toto and stressed the need to restructure the entire agreement in order to have a win-win situation for both countries. Also during the meeting Minister Karunanayake met India's Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran. He pointed out that the existing agreement had in no way benefited Sri Lanka or the local exporters in terms of returns. The second Indo-Lanka FTA is expected to iron out the discrepancies under the present FTA and create harmonious trade relations between the two countries, a senior Government official said.
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