Sri Lanka
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
The Sri Lankan government will hold ministerial level talks with China to review and iron out contentious issues in the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries, Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama said.
The joint opposition today challenged Minister Malik Samarawickrama to a debate on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Singapore and urged President Maithripala Sirisena to suspend the FTA.
Talks between China and Sri Lanka for a free trade agreement have hit a major hurdle as Beijing has rejected Colombo’s demand for a review of the deal after 10 years.
alks between China and Sri Lanka for a free trade agreement have hit major hurdles, mainly because Beijing will not agree to Colombo’s demand for a review of the deal after 10 years, Sri Lanka’s top negotiator said.
SLFP MP Dayasiri Jayasekara alleged today that former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran, who was in Singapore, had played the key role in signing the Free Trade Agreement between Sri Lanka and Singapore.
The Sri Lanka Singapore Free Trade Agreement has raised serious concern among many industries.
Government doctors are to stage a token strike tomorrow against the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Sri Lanka and Singapore.
The President of Sri Lanka expressed that his government will safeguard the local industrialists. In several occasions, he has mentioned that the government does not want to go for trade agreements that are deleterious to the country’s economy. However, in January this year, the president was seated in the high chair clapping when the bilateral trade agreement with Singapore is signed, which liberalized the country’s service sector effectively for the first time.
In response to concerns raised by some professional associations last week concerning the Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA), the Development Strategies and International Trade Ministry in a detailed response said the movement of natural persons from Singapore has not been opened except for intra-corporate transferees in senior management and business visitors linked to investments.
In Sri Lanka, the top professional bodies representing engineers, architects, town planners and quantity surveyors and other related professions this week charged that the government has rushed into signing the Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA) without having proper legal frameworks in place to ensure job security of local professionals and the possible entry of under-qualified overseas professionals.
