ETCA yet to be negotiated - Indian DPL

‘Should have dispute-solving mechanism’:

By Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

There is no draft Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) as yet. What has been exchanged between the two governments is a framework and negotiations will begin shortly.

The framework is a guide to the agreement covering trade in goods and technical assistance, First Secretary, Indian High Commission Kartik Pande said on Monday.

Speaking at a symposium on ETCA organized by the ETCA Committee and the Bar Association of Sri Lanka last week at the BASL auditorium in Colombo, he said that the ETCA agreement was proposed by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister in September last year and negotiations will start in due course.

Explaining ‘Why ETCA?’, the First Secretary said that from the point of view of economic and commercial engagements between the two countries, broader interaction was necessary. Bi-lateral trade between the two countries has gone up on a year–on-year basis. The CEPA, an agreement covering trade, goods and services and investment was to have been signed in 2008. Yet it did not happen, he said.

Stressing that there is no ECTA agreement at present, the First Secretary said that at the negotiation stage there will be discussions to iron-out differences.

There is a lot of cooperation for ECTA and the fear of competition is the main drawback in this regard. However, there are many concerns regarding ECTA, one being the current FTA. If this FTA is being smoothly implemented, why another agreement, he queried. Any agreement should have a dispute resolving mechanism, he said. The Government Medical Officers’ Association President Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya argued that a rational approach to trade agreements is necessary with process and authority being clearly indicated.

The country should not open the gates without a security guard representing the professionals and the service sector, he said.

He said that the country should be in a position to have answers to the questions of what is the process of developing an agreement and, who are responsible for the process.

“As far as ECTA is concerned there is no proper process or authority. Apart from these two aspects there should be transparency and accountability which is lacking in the ECTA agreement,” he said. We do not oppose the ECTA agreement, but we propose a rational approach to trade agreements, he said.

Representing the Sri Lankan industrial sector, Nature’s Secrets company Chairman Samantha Kumarasinghe said that ECTA will trap Sri Lanka and it is an ‘Indian economic invasion’ of Sri Lanka.

The ECTA preamble states a framework and by signing this agreement the country has to give the minimum facilities agreed upon in GATS signed in 1994.