- Dates not confirmed; location Colombo
- SL wants to ink deal by mid-next year
The 12th round of negotiations between Sri Lanka and India on the much-maligned Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) is scheduled to commence at the end of November, the International Trade Office (ITO) reveals.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, ITO Chief Negotiator K.J. Weerasinghe revealed that the 12th round of discussions on the ETCA was scheduled to commence in Colombo at the end of November, but was unable to confirm the exact dates.
He noted that while the Sri Lankan delegation had proposed that the negotiations be carried out on 29-30 November, confirmation was yet to be received from the Indian delegation regarding the precise dates.
Commenting on the timeline for entering into the ETCA, he stated: “It is too early to name an exact date. That depends on how negotiations progress. However, we want to finish it by at least mid-next year.”
Elaborating further, he said that the negotiations would cover goods, services, economic cooperation, trade facilitation, and trade remedies since the agreement would be a comprehensive document.
Weerasinghe further stated that both parties had not come to any agreement during the previous 11 rounds of discussions. “We are resuming discussions after five years, so we haven’t finished anything. We will have to start from where we stopped. However, hopefully we can have a virtual meeting before the actual discussions in order to exchange our views.”
During President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to India in July, both sides reached an agreement to recommence the stalled discussions on the ETCA, with an aim to comprehensively enhance bilateral trade and investments in new and priority areas.
Amongst other things, it was agreed that since the designation of the Indian Rupee as the currency for trade settlements between the two countries had forged stronger and mutually-beneficial commercial linkages, UPI-based digital payments would be operationalised for further trade and transactions between businesses and people.
Moreover, it was stated that India’s rapid digitalisation was an important force-multiplier for ongoing transformational changes in India, both in economic development and governance, and therefore, it was agreed to leverage India’s Digital Public Infrastructure in accordance with Sri Lanka’s requirements and priorities towards effective and efficient delivery of citizen-centric services to the people of Sri Lanka.