Green light for development agency amidst ‘red’ for AIT

Sri Lanka’s much hyped ‘Agency for International Trade ‘(AIT) is still to ‘see the light of day’ as the government grapples to finalise a national policy on international trade although the stage is now set to set up the Agency for Development (AID) with cabinet approval given last week.

A 11-member general affairs committee headed by Dr. Saman Kelegama and comprising senior lawyer Aritta Wickramanayake, Dr. Nihal Samarappuli, business leader Ashroff Omar, advisors Dr Ravi Rathnayake and K.J.Weerasinghe is working on international trade agreements including ETCA and the setting up of the ‘Agency for International Trade’.

Mounting pressure from professional and business sector against ECTA has hindered the work on formulating a national policy on international trade and the establishment of the AIT, informed sources revealed.

Preliminary work on the establishment of these two agencies to fast-track investment and trade began in 2015 by appointing committees comprising renowned public and private sector stalwarts.

But it took almost one year to obtain cabinet approval to establish the AID under the Development (Special Provisions) Bill.

This bill was prepared making provisions to introduce a national policy on all subjects regarding the development and for economic development, policy making for rural modernisation and regional development.

An independent committee is now formulating a trade policy frame work which focuses on reducing the anti- export bias in state policies, one source revealed.