- Negotiations
Sri Lanka has preferential and free trade agreements with India, Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, Singapore and Israel. It is currently in the processing of upgrading its agreement with India to a much more comprehensive one.
Sri Lanka is also party to SAFTA, the agreement on a South Asia Free Trade Area, as well as BIMSTEC, which aims to hammer out a regional FTA.
last update: May 2012
Photo: Sri Lankan engineers’ association
26-Jun-2011
’Moving forward’ on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Sri Lanka and Pakistan which also goes beyond only trade in goods outlined in the existing bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA), into services and investment promotion, will boost trade between both countries, according to Seema Ilahi Baloch, High Commissioner for Pakistan in Sri Lanka.
15-Jun-2011
Sunday Times
A spokesman for the anti-CEPA group, Managing Director Multichemi Group Samantha Kumarasinghe said that CEPA is bound to cause serious harm to Sri Lanka. According to him the Indian authorities have consulted around 1000 Indian economists on CEPA. But in Sri Lanka’s case it was the opposite, he alleged.
5-Jun-2011
Given the strong economic, political and cultural ties shared by the two countries an FTA to further bolster bilateral trade had been a topic during a meeting between Japanese Ambassador Kunio Takahashi and Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen.
13-Feb-2011
Sunday Times
The Sri Lankan government has broken an impasse over the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement which has been dragging for several years, and decided to renegotiate some sections of the proposed agreement with India.
17-Dec-2010
Demystifying Regional Services Trade Agreements
Summarises basic features of a regional services trade agreement with specific reference to India and Sri Lanka
8-Dec-2010
The Indian Government and the Sri Lankan Government will renew the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The Ministry is planning to include the import of yarn in the FTA.
1-Dec-2010
The balance of trade between Sri Lanka and India continues to be highly in favour of that country since the signing of the Free Trade Agreement between the two nations, Sri Lanka’s Parliament was told today.
29-Nov-2010
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) and Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) at the Sri Lanka-Pakistan Business Forum 2010 yesterday.
5-Sep-2010
Sri Lanka’s request for a free trade agreement (FTA) with Japan came as a surprise, a Japanese official speaking on the grounds of anonymity told The Sunday Leader.
30-Aug-2010
"It is an honour to be the Chief Guest at the AGM of the Import Section of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. I thought that it will be appropriate to share some of my views of the import sector of Sri Lanka so as to identify its current role in the Sri Lankan economy and its role in the future.