COLOMBO: On the invitation extended by the National Chamber of Exporters (NCE), K. J. Weerasinghe Advisor to the Ministry of Strategy Development an International Trade, and Chief Negotiator of the Government, related to the free trade agreements (FTA) with Singapore, India and China, addressed the Council of the National Chamber of Exporters (NCE) of Sri Lanka at its last meeting, to elucidate the important aspects of these FTAs, and particularly the FTA with Singapore which was signed recently.
K. J. Weerasinghe is a former Director General of the Department of Commerce and a former Ambassador to the European Union, with substantial expertise and experience in the area of Trade, having represented Sri Lanka in many overseas Trade destinations. He served as a member of the trade negotiating team of the three FTAs negotiated with Singapore, India, and China from the inception of negotiations, and later replaced Dr. Saman Kelegama as the Head of the Government Negotiating Team, after his demise.
At the outset Weerasinghe outlined the current position related to the three FTAs. He stated that in regard to the proposed Economic and Technology Co-operation Agreement (ETCA) with India which seeks to expand the coverage of the existing FTA which is currently limited only to trade in goods.
So far seven rounds of negotiations have been completed while the eighth round will begin shortly. In regard to the FTA with China six rounds of negotiations have been completed. In the case of the FTA with Singapore negotiations commenced in August 2016 and the agreement was formally signed between the Governments of Sri Lanka and Singapore on 23rd January 2018, after eight rounds of negotiations conducted over a period of sixteen months.
