Sri Lanka
Talks for an agreement on enhanced market access for service sectors between India and Sri Lanka are at an advanced stage and are likely to be concluded by the month-end.
The Sri Lankan government is forging ahead with the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) which will facilitate the entry here of two Indian banks - Bank of Baroda and Axis Bank, according to senior officials at the Central Bank.
The trade agreement has opened central Asian countries adjacent to Pakistan to new Sri Lankan exports.
President Pervez Musharraf and President Mahinda Rajapakse of Sri Lanka on Friday agreed on improving their trade and commerce ties with specific focus on continuing Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
The government move on lowering customs duty on edible oils for pushing down its prices has started yielding positive results. On the heels of getting a huge relief from reduced import duty on crude palm oil (CPO) from 45% to 20%, which serves as raw material of vanaspati, vegetable fat producers have slashed their product prices by Rs 4-5/kg.
The European Union has told Sri Lanka it has "very serious concerns" about civil war human rights abuses and that lucrative trade concessions could be at risk if they continue.
A new study on a south Asian regional trade deal has said Sri Lanka will gain more in the next phase of liberalisation but the island’s private sector representatives have expressed scepticism about the outcome.
India’s Minister of Commerce was in Colombo last week. He had the usual few words to say about the benefits that are supposed to have accrued to pretty much everybody since the entry into force of the free trade agreement with Sri Lanka in 2000. Unfortunately, the story isn’t so simple. Taking a closer look at what has happened in practice would prompt even the most ardent believer to question the undoubtedly beguiling theory of free trade.
Sri Lanka is negotiating more free trade and investment deals with other countries to increase trade and foreign investment. Two rounds of talks were held in January with India and Pakistan on free trade and investment agreements while the first negotiations on an investment promotion and protection agreement with Kuwait was concluded on January 30. The Sri Lanka-Kuwait negotiations will be followed by negotiations on a Sri Lanka-Jordan Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement
Sri Lanka has stopped exporting pepper under the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA) because of restrictions imposed by India, a top exporter has said.
India and Sri Lanka may finalise discussions on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement this week
The reduction in customs duty of crude palm oil (CPO) by India has severely hit the 12 vanaspati units set up by Indian companies in Sri Lanka to take advantage of the low duty on CPO there and export duty-free to India under the free trade agreement quota.
Discussions on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement have been inconclusive for about three years as India seeks to restrict the export of pepper and hydrogenated vegetable oil from Sri Lanka, which is concerned about jobs being lost to Indians.
Trade analysts say that Sri Lanka should make the most of existing trade deals like the Bay of Bengal Initiative before negotiating more bilateral and multilateral agreements.
India and Sri Lanka have decided to sign a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) by October this year for augmenting mutual trade and investment, Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said Thursday.
Pakistan has announced tariff reduction on the import of 6936 items under five bilateral and regional trade agreements.
Just two bilateral free-trade pacts behind it and a handful of them under negotiation, India has turned wiser. India and Thailand have come to differ on how to progress the 2004-born free-trade arrangement between them. New Delhi wants further liberalisation to happen simultaneously on trade in goods, services and investment.
The Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Pakistan said this week that the potential to expand trade between the two countries will be facilitated by the recently inked Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
The proposed free trade Agreement (FTA) between Sri Lanka and India
can become a reality by March 2008. It would trigger trade between the two countries and offer opportunities to exploit potential in service sectors such as finance, tourism, health and education, said CII Southern Region Chairman P K Mohapatra on his return from Colombo on Friday.
The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, (TDAP) and the Sri Lanka Trade Development Board (SLTDB) will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to facilitate rapid increase in trade between Pakistan and Sri Lanka under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
bilaterals.org team, Jan 2021