India- Srilanka economic relations on ETCA

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during a recent meeting on the Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), said that India will invest $2 billion in Sri Lanka in the next three-four years. The Minister also called on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to discuss the terms of the agreement.

Background:

The ETCA initiative follows unfruitful negotiations, spanning nearly a decade, on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the neighbours. India and Sri Lanka already have a Free Trade Agreement since 1998.

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.