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Govt. assures broad dialogue with private sector throughout FTA negotiation process

22 Nov 2022 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}      

As the government prepares to resume negotiations on the proposed free trade agreements (FTA) with India, China and Thailand, the Cabinet-appointed National Trade Negotiation Committee assured to conduct a broad dialogue with the private sector throughout the negotiation process.


During the inaugural stakeholder consultations held at the Finance Ministry last week, the participating trade chambers and industry advisory committees had stressed the necessity of giving the highest consideration to their offensive and defensive interests.


The private sector representatives also requested the government to focus on resolving several long-standing issues faced by the exporters in related to non-tariff barriers such as certain quota restrictions, various issues on laboratory facilities for testing standards, not having mutual standards recognition agreements, etc.


In response, the members of the National Trade Negotiation Committee assured the private sector representatives that they would engage in a broad dialogue with the private sector throughout the FTA negotiations via responsible government institutions.


Meanwhile, Secretary to President Saman Ekanayake outlined that the resumption of FTA negotiations with India, China and Thailand remains a key priority of the government, as it would be the stepping stone to gain membership of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). 


He also shared that the government would be moving to operationalise the country’s first comprehensive FTA, Sri Lanka-Singapore FTA shortly. “It is the vision of the president that Sri Lanka will integrate with the global value chains and with the largest economies in South Asia and East Asia and then expand to the east region linking to the RCEP.


These agreements will ultimately pave the path to gaining membership of the RCEP, which consists of 30 percent of the world’s GDP, trade and population,” he said.


Joining the discussion, Secretary to Treasury Mahinda Siriwardana noted that the government would be soon setting up an International Trade Office (ITO), as proposed in Budget 2023, which would have the mandate to proceed with all international trade negotiations in the future.


The ITO is expected to be established under the Finance Ministry initially, which would be later transferred to the Foreign Affairs Ministry.


Foreign Affairs Ministry Secretary Aruni Wijewardane assured that foreign missions and diplomatic channels have fully prepared to facilitate the upcoming trade negotiations.