Jaishankar’s visit High profile but low key

by B.C Sharma

India’s Foreign Secretary Dr.Subrahmanyam Jaishankar paid a low key, business like visit to Sri Lanka on January 12 and 13, principally to prepare the ground for the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission meeting to be held in Colombo on February 5 and 6.

After extensive talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Chitranganee Wagiswara on January 12, Jaishankar called on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Minister of International Trade and Development Malik Samarawickrama, and had dinner with Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

The next day, the ranking Indian official had breakfast with Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader and Leader of the Opposition in parliament, R.Sampanthan, and called on President Maithripala Sirisena and Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Range of issues

Since the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission is to take up all bilateral issues, Jaishankar discussed a wide range of issues from the proposal to sign an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ECTCA) by mid-2016 and the proposed constitutional change in Sri Lanka to the recurring problems over fishing or poaching by Tamil Nadu fishermen off the Northern coast.

The meeting with Samarawickrama was very significant since India and Sri Lanka are both very keen on fast tracking the signing of the ETCA.

It will address several issues which have bedevilled the Free Trade Agreement and the now defunct Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CEPA).The ETCA will allow trade in services but only in two fields to address Sri Lankan fears about being flooded by Indian professionals including those in hair dressing as former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said.

The Joint Commission will also take up the question of reducing NonTariff Barriers to Sri Lankan goods entering the Indian market under FTA.

One of the issues is India not recognizing Sri Lankan standard certifications.Sri Lanka wants to sign a Mutual Recognition of Stardards agreement.

Fishing or more poaching by Indians is another ticklish issue.As on date, there are 104 Tamil Nadu fishermen in Sri Lankan custody and 500 more might be arrested if the Navy carries out Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera’s order to arrest at least 500 in a month after Thai Pongal.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa has appealed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to secure the release of fishermen.

The other issue taken up by Jaishankar during his visit was the prospect of a new constitution being in place in Sri Lanka by year end.As Jaishankar told TNA chief Sampanthan, India would like Sri Lanka to build on the existing 13th cinstitutional amendment rather than strart from scratch and re-invent the wheel.

While 13A is India’s baby (being an off shoot of the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987) the TNA is worried about the provinces being replaced by the village as the unit of devolution under Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s Grama Rajya concept.