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.
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