• Trade Min. confirms no formal steps to restart pending trade agreements until Cabinet approval 
• Prez’s agreement on ETCA talks requires procedural clearance before discussions can advance
• Dept. of Commerce to resume role in trade negotiations after prior sidelining
• Govt. halts previous plans to transfer trade functions to OIT 

The recommencement of all pending talks relating to the trade agreements Sri Lanka was pursuing will be delayed until the relevant policy and procedural approvals are received, the Ministry of Trade, Commerce, Food Security, and Cooperative Development reveals.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Ministry of Trade, Commerce, Food Security, and Cooperative Development Secretary K.A. Vimalenthirarajah said that although President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had during his recent visit to India agreed to advance discussions on the Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), no formal steps had been taken to recommence talks on Sri Lanka’s pending trade agreements until the relevant policy and procedural approvals were received from the Cabinet of Ministers.

“We are still making internal arrangements, so we need policy and procedural approval from the Cabinet, after which we can commence talks,” he stated.

Vimalenthirarajah revealed that procedural approvals included appointing a chief negotiator to represent Sri Lanka in such talks.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security, and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe stated that Sri Lanka had only agreed to commence discussions in respect of the ETCA and that talks were yet to commence.

Responding to a query by The Sunday Morning Business on whether the Department of Commerce would continue to be sidelined in trade negotiations, as was the case under the previous regime, where trade negotiations were taken over by the Office for International Trade (OIT) established under the Presidential Secretariat, Samarasinghe stated that the department was once again operational.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, sources from the Department of Commerce revealed that although the previous Government had intended to remove all functions of the department and transfer them to the newly constituted OIT through the Economic Transformation Act No.45 of 2024, the new Government had not given effect to the same.

Accordingly, the sources pointed out that most of the functions of the Department of Commerce had once again been allocated to the Ministry of Trade, Commerce, Food Security, and Cooperative Development, which was the line ministry of the department.