• Notes fears of SMEs of their businesses being rendered obsolete due to China’s low production costs
• Wants Parliament to iron out details first  

Claiming that there is a great danger of the small- and medium-scale industries being destroyed through the free trade agreement (FTA), which is to be signed between Sri Lanka and China, National People’s Power Parliamentarian and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that the Government should discuss its contents in Parliament before proceeding with the rest of the process.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday (17), he said: “President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that there is some progress in the talks with China on debt restructuring. Against that backdrop, arrangements have now been made to sign an FTA with China. What are the contents of that Agreement? Today, the industrialists of our country are scared. That is because we all know that China is a technologically advanced country. They produce goods for a large market. Naturally, their production costs are low and it cannot be prevented, but that is not the case in our country. Sri Lankan industrialists produce goods for a small market.”

Noting that local industrialists should also reach the international market, he said that a plan should be formulated for that purpose. However, at a time when the production cost in the country has gone up in the prevailing situation, he said that local industrialists, some of whom he had met recently, are in great fear as to whether the FTA in question would affect their businesses. He said that there is a great danger of small and medium-scale industries which are already in the midst of a crisis, being destroyed through the FTA to be signed. 

“Let’s discuss this agreement in the House before reaching an agreement, going to negotiations and signing the contract. What are your (Government) suggestions? How will the FTA affect our industries? Is it favourable to the exporters of our country, or are we trying to promote only an import market? Let's discuss these matters in Parliament and then make a decision,” added Dissanayake.

Meanwhile, State Minister of Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasuriya told The Morning in 2021 that Sri Lankan authorities are reviewing the provisions of the proposed FTA with China in order to ensure that it would not turn out to be “another Singapore FTA”. “The proposed China FTA is a huge document and there is a lot of negativity towards Sri Lanka. We are reviewing the contents and assessing harmonised system codes because we do not need a repeat of what happened with the Singapore FTA,” he said.