- 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
15-Mar-2010
The Free Trade Agreement between India and Sri Lanka is 10 years old and a top trade economist says trade between the two South Asian neighbours have improved and that Sri Lanka should consider upgrading the agreement into a comprehensive economic partnership.
22-Nov-2009
A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Singapore would be beneficial because it would result in more opportunities with Sri Lanka, currently attempting to develop itself as a hub to India and a financial hub; particularly due to the country’s existing respective FTAs with India and with Pakistan, a top Singapore businessman has said.
8-Nov-2009
Negative trade balance is not always negative. It could be looked in a broader context said the Head of Chancery of the Pakistan High Commission in Sri Lanka Balal Akram. Referring to the negative trade balance between the countries which is favourable to Pakistan Akram said that 35 per cent of Sri Lankan imports from Pakistan are raw material for the apparel industry.
8-Nov-2009
IPS
Sri Lanka has reacted strongly to a European Commission (EC) probe on its human rights record, saying it is politically motivated.
19-Oct-2009
Lanka Business
The United States has asked Sri Lanka, ranked high for software piracy in Asia, to better enforce intellectual property rights and also lift restrictions on American imports like genetically modified food.
19-Oct-2009
ANI
The European Commission is all set to recommend withdrawal of trade benefits from Sri Lanka after allegations of large scale violation of human rights surfaced during the last stages of the civil war against the LTTE.
11-Oct-2009
The Island Business
Sri Lanka is very likely not pursue a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Pakistan because a similar agreement with India was put in cold storage last year amidst mounting domestic pressure.
2-Sep-2009
IPS
The June coup d’état in Honduras was a body blow to political integration in Central America. The old idea of a protected and privileged trade area does not make any sense now in the light of globalisation, "so the concept of open integration was adopted. But that needed to be translated into concrete terms and this was not done."
2-Sep-2009
Daily News
The Free Trade Agreement between Sri Lanka and Pakistan will be further expanded to services and investment in keeping with a bilateral discussions between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, yesterday.
8-Jul-2009
PRIU
Sri Lanka and Kuwait successfully concluded negotiations on the proposed Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) between two countries. This will be Sri Lanka’s first ever IPPA with a Gulf country.
