Speakers at the panel session from left: Ranel Wijesinha, Reyaz Mihular, Dr. Saman Kelegama, Lasantha Wickremasinghe, Dinuk Hettiarachchi and Nishan Fernando

In its capacity as the national body of accountants, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) recently engaged its stakeholders by conducting a forum exclusively for the benefit of its members focusing on the Economic and Technology Co-Operation Agreement (ETCA) between India and Sri Lanka.

The forum was organised in an effort to provide CA Sri Lanka members, who are chartered accountants, an in-depth understanding on the ETCA and also obtain views from the members with regard to the proposed agreement which has generated interest in the recent past across all professional spheres.
The guest speaker at the forum was Institute of Policy Studies Executive Director Dr. Saman Kelegama, who shared his views on the agreement between India and Sri Lanka with the members of the institute.
Speaking at the event, CA Sri Lanka President Lasantha Wickremasinghe said that the ETCA has generated a lot of interest in recent months among the professional community and there has been both positive and negative sentiments expressed on the agreement that the government hopes to sign with India.
“Bilateral agreements are seen as an important method in accelerating growth between countries. However, any bilateral or regional agreement that Sri Lanka signs must be supportive of the country’s holistic interests including economic interest, while also taking the interest of the people,” Wickremasinghe said.

Therefore, he noted that it was important for any government to ensure that all pros and cons are taken into account and to also carry out the necessary consultations with all relevant stakeholders before signing such agreements. 
“In our capacity as the national body of accountants and also taking into account the interest the ETCA has generated in the recent past, we thought it was important to organise this forum, for the benefit of our members in order for them to gain an in-depth understating on the agreement,” he added. The forum aimed to clarify if the accounting profession was affected by the proposed agreement and evaluate the pros and cons of it, while giving members of CA Sri Lanka a platform to share their thoughts as well on 
the agreement.

The forum was followed by a panel discussion comprising of Dr. Saman Kelegama, Lasantha Wickremasinghe, Management Consultant Ranel Wijesinha, KPMG Managing Partner Reyaz Mihular and Nihal Hettiarachchi& Company Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner Dinuk Hettiarachchi. The session was moderated by BDO Consulting (Pvt.) Ltd Managing Director Nishan Fernando.