CA Sri Lanka holds ETCA confab

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka), recently conducted a forum on the Economic and Technology Co-Operation Agreement (ETCA) between India and Sri Lanka, for its members.

The forum was organised to provide an in-depth understanding on the ETCA and also obtain views from members with regard to the proposed agreement which has generated interest across all professional spheres.

The guest speaker at the forum was Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies, Dr. Saman Kelegama, who shared his views on the agreement between India and Sri Lanka with the members of the institute.

CA Sri Lanka, President Lasantha Wickremasinghe said that the ETCA has generated a lot of interest in recent months among the professional community and there has been both positive and negative sentiments expressed on the agreement that the government hopes to sign with India. "Bi-lateral agreements are seen as an important method in accelerating growth between countries.

However any bilateral or regional agreement that Sri Lanka signs must be supportive of the country's holistic interests including economic interest, while also taking the interest of the people," Wickremasinghe said.

Therefore, it was important for any government to ensure that all pros and cons are taken into account and to also carry out consultations with all relevant stakeholders before signing such agreements, he said.

"As the national body of accountants, and also taking into account the interest the ETCA has generated in the recent past, we thought it was important to organize this forum, for the benefit of our members in order for them to gain an in-depth understating on the agreement," Wickremasinghe said.

The forum aimed to clarify if the accounting profession was affected by the proposed agreement, and evaluate the pros and cons of it, while giving members of CA Sri Lanka a platform to share their thoughts as well on the agreement.

This was followed by a panel discussion comprising Dr. Saman Kelegama, Lasantha Wickremasinghe, Management Consultant, Ranel Wijesinha, Managing Partner of KPMG, Reyaz Mihular and Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of Nihal Hettiarachchi Company, Dinuk Hettiarachchi. It was moderated by Managing Director of BDO Consulting (Pvt) Ltd., Nishan Fernando.