SL to review progress of ongoing FTA negotiations with India, China, Thailand

Sri Lanka is to review the progress in free trade agreement (FTA) talks with China, India and Thailand, while learning from the success of the FTA signed with Singapore, in order to resume negotiations on a stronger footing, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said.

He reiterated that the government’s commitment in pursuing the proposed FTAS was aimed at linking into regional value chains to boost Sri Lanka’s exports volumes.

Following the criticism of SLSFTA, the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade appointed several committees to review the feasibility studies of the proposed FTAS with India, China and Thailand which are currently ongoing with the assistance of the Department of Commerce (DOC).

The government plans to resume the second round of Sri Lanka-thailand FTA talks shortly, once the reviewing process is concluded. The new FTA negotiation team of Sri Lanka is likely to be headed by DOC Director General, Sonali Wijeratne.

Samaraweera also announced the launch of ‘Break into India’ and ‘China Market Entry Strategy’ this year, which have been built on upon success stories of Sri Lankan entrepreneurs.

“This will be further supported by establishing trading houses for priority sectors, in collaboration with the private sector in key markets. These trading houses will support Sri Lankan firms in securing distribution networks, buyer linkages, and other ground support,” he noted.

The government is seeking to allocate Rs 50 million for the implementation of these initiatives proposed in the budget 2019.

Moreover, the government is also seeking an allocation of Rs 400 million for the Export Market Access Programme and Rs. 250 million for the National Export Strategy (NES) this year. Both theses programmes were launched last year.

The implementation of the National Quality Infrastructure Strategy under NES is set kick off this year, which is a publicprivate collaboration that entails upgrading of technical facilities for export product development and import quality testing.