- 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
22-Mar-2007
Sri Lanka and India will hold another round of trade talks in Colombo next week on liberalizing professional services, investments and trade in goods.
4-Mar-2007
Financial Times
A free trade agreement with the US will not guarantee a competitive advantage for Sri Lankan garments in the US, says a US trade law specialist.
12-Sep-2006
A high level team of Indian trade officials will arrive in Sri Lanka next week to finalise the quotas for cooking oil and bakery shortening exported from Sri Lanka to India, says the Secretary to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Trade, R.M.K. Rathnayaka.
14-Jul-2006
Daily India
Sri Lanka has mooted a free trade agreement (FTA) with Bangladesh citing its positive experience with the ones it has signed with India and Pakistan.
7-Jun-2006
All Sri Lankan factories producing Vanaspati oil have shut down, after controversial Indian regulations to restrict duty free exports of the vegetable oil to India.
17-Mar-2006
Daily News
Singapore is keen on entering into an FTA with Sri Lanka, Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Rohitha Bogollagama said on Wednesday.
7-Mar-2006
Indian government has agreed to provide a 70% tax concession for 2,802 goods exported from Sri Lanka to India, says Minister of Trade, Commerce, Consumer Affairs and Marketing Development Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, appraising the Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement as a success to Sri Lanka.
23-Jan-2006
Daily News
By having preferential access to the two major markets in South Asia - India and Pakistan - Sri Lanka can now position itself as the conduit for Indo-Pakistan trade that has diminished due to political problems centred around the Most Favoured Nation treatment.
12-Jan-2006
AFP
The United States warned Sri lanka against banking on a quick free trade deal to fix its economic woes and urged the island to restore peace and open its markets.
10-Jan-2006
A free trade agreement between Sri Lanka and the U.S. isn’t a certainty and even if it does happen, it isn’t guaranteed to solve the country’s trade difficulties, the U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka said Tuesday.