Sri Lanka plans to wrap up negotiations on the proposed Indonesia-Sri Lanka Preferential Trade Agreement (ISLPTA) by December with hopes to seal the same by March 2025.

The two countries have so far conducted two rounds of negotiations. The latest round of talks were held in Colombo on 15 and 16 of July this year. Both Sri Lanka and Indonesia aim to boost trade volumes by reducing or eliminating tariffs on selected goods through the proposed PTA, which is also set to become a key building block towards a much comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) in the future.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe briefed the Cabinet of Ministers this Monday on the progress of the discussion so far. As per the Indonesian government data, bilateral trade amounted to US$ 369.7 million in 2023, a 17.61 percent increase from US$ 314.4 million recorded in the previous year. The bilateral trade largely remains in favour of Indonesia. Sri Lanka mainly exports knitted fabrics and tobacco processing machines to Indonesia while importing exports copra, petroleum, paper, cartons, tobacco, as well as coal from Indonesia.

Sri Lanka plans to strengthen trade ties with ASEAN countries in line with its plans to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The country has already signed comprehensive FTA agreements with Thailand and Singapore and plans FTAs with other ASEAN countries such as Malaysia.