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| Tuesday, 5 October 2004 |
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by Upali Rupasinghe A comprehensive economic partnership agreement to be signed between Sri Lanka and India under negotiation now, will address "shortcomings" in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), said Trade, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle. Addressing the Sri Lanka-India Joint Business Council's inaugural session at Chennai on Friday, he said the new pact that would "broaden and deepen" the FTA's scope and content will not only involve trade in goods, but also liberalisation of trade in services and investment cooperation, and an "effective mechanism for trade facilitation". He urged a "frank and honest assessment" of the FTA's impact because "we cannot be complacent with the ongoing trend in our economic relations by simply looking at statistics". "Both countries are now approaching the stage of the comprehensive economic partnership agreement and it is very important that we work very closely with each other to resolve the current impediments," Fernandopulle said. Among the "impediments", he cited problems related to "rules of origin" of goods so that a third country cannot take advantage of the FTA in the two-way trade between Sri Lanka and India. The FTA between the two countries has entered its fourth year. |
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