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| Sunday, 13 February 2005 |
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Talks on CEPA with Indian officials A high-powered eight-member delegation led by Secretary, Ministry of Trade Commerce and Consumer Affairs S. Virithamulla left for India on February 9 on a two-day official visit to have discussions on the Sri Lanka Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with officials of the Indian Commerce Ministry. The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and Sri Lanka signed in 1998 spells out the concessions that will be given to goods while the CEPA extends beyond goods to include services and investment. The FTA has led to an increase of trade between the two countries and therefore both countries are interested in extending the agreement to include services and investment as well, a ministry source said. A meeting was held from August 16 to 17 to review the performance of the FTA. The Sri Lankan delegation was led by S. Virithamulla while the Indian delegation was led by the Secretary Commerce Ministry of India S.N.Menon At this meeting it was decided to start negotiations on the CEPA and this was the first meeting, he said. The other members of the delegation were Director General Commerce Department K.J. Weerasinghe, Additional Secretary, Foreign Ministry Mrs C. Wageeswara, Legal Advisor, Foreign Ministry Dr. Rohan Perera, Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga from the Finance Ministry, Deputy Director Commerce Department A.G.N. Karunatilleke, Director BOI Nimal Samarappuli and Director Economic Research Central Bank Dr H.N. Thenuwara. Under the FTA bilateral trade exceeded over US$ one billion in 2003 and India who was our 22nd buyer is now our third largest buyer. More than 70 percent of the total exports to India have been sent under tariff preferences which is a boost for Sri Lanka's exports. A joint study group co-chaired by Rakesh Mohan from India and Ken Balendra from Sri Lanka have done a study on the areas that the two countries can cooperate. (SG) |
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