Sri Lanka-India economic pact may soon be a reality
Y.K. Sinha, India’s High Commissioner in Colombo, recently
indicated that the proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement
(ETCA) between India and Sri Lanka, which would be an improvement over the
existing Free Trade Agreement (FTA), may soon be a reality.
- He also observed that there has to be “genuine debate
and discussion” among stakeholders in Sri Lanka on this matter.
Background:
India-Sri Lanka bilateral trade stood at $4.6 billion last year,
of which Indian exports were valued at about $4 billion.
- Nearly 60% of Sri Lankan exports were making use of the
FTA whereas 90% Indian exports did not use the channel.
ETCA:
The Indo-Lanka Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement
better known as ETCA (formerly CEPA) is a trade agreement.
- The ETCA agreement seeks to boost cooperation in technical areas, scientific expertise and research amongst institutions, boost standards of goods and services able to compete on the global market and improve opportunities for manpower training and human resource development
