Sri Lanka likely to fast track trade pacts with India

The Dollar Business Bureau

In an attempt to alleviate the Brexit impact, Sri Lanka, on Tuesday, stated that it will put the proposed trade pacts with India on fast track.

Harsha de Silva, Deputy Foreign Minister, hopes to accelerate the Free Trade Agreement with China and Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement with India.

Similar trade pacts are also expected to be inked by Sri Lanka with South Korea and Japan, he added.

Harsha de Silva was a part of the delegation that was sent to United Kingdom to campaign for Britain’s ‘Remain’ in European Union. However, the move was censured by the opposition parties.

De Silva, in defence, stated that the decision to campaign for ‘Remain’ was in the best interests of Sri Lanka.

The exit of UK from the EU will affect the Sri Lankan imports to the 28-nation bloc in adverse ways, said de Silva to the Parliament.

The opposition parties of Sri Lanka criticized the pacts with India, calling it a move to ‘foreignise’ the economy of Sri Lanka. They demanded that the inadequacies in the prevailing Free Trade pacts should be resolved before the conclusion of the deal with India.

While demanding the addition of goods, trade in services and investment, the opposition further stated that the pact will benefit India and remain unfriendly to Sri Lanka’s economic interests.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister, earlier, stated that his government will ink the ETCA with India by mid-2016.

The PM, in order to pacify the Lankans, further stated that it was a mistaken belief that the country will be jammed with Indian employees.

The ‘Leave’ vote of UK referendum has left a deep impact on world markets. Uncertainties, turbulence have surfaced post Brexit vote results.