News
Lanka to resume negotiations on stalled trade agreement with India
11 rounds of bilateral negotiations were held on the Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement
BY MEERA SRINIVASAN
Sri Lanka will soon resume talks with India on the stalled Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), authorities said, as Colombo looks to trade pacts and foreign direct investments to rebuild its crisis-hit economy.
“We hope to commence negotiations on the ETCA later this month,” said K.J. Weerasinghe, Chief Negotiator of FTAs at the International Trade Office, recently set up under the Presidential Secretariat. “We had finished 11 rounds of bilateral talks the last time [between 2016 and 2019] with the aim of broadening and deepening the [ISFTA] that is in force since India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement,” said the senior official, who was formerly Director General of the Department of Commerce, following several diplomatic stints focusing on Sri Lanka’s international trade interests.
However, the Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe-led government that was in power at the time could not complete negotiations. The ETCA faced considerable resistance from sections within Sri Lanka, mainly from nationalist groups and trade unions who saw the pact as giving India an unfair advantage. The ETCA itself followed decade-long, but futile, negotiations on yet another pact — the “Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)”.
Sri Lanka’s recent emphasis on FTAs and FDIs is part of President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s strategy for economic recovery in the island nation, reeling under the impact of its worst economic crash. The country’s economy contracted by an estimated 9.2 % this year and is estimated to contract by a further 4.2 % in 2023, according to the World Bank. Meanwhile, the government is talking to its creditors to restructure its foreign debt and qualify for IMF support early next year.
In his Budget speech last month Wickremesinghe, who is also the Finance Minister, underscored the need for Sri Lanka to have greater access to the world market. “Towards this end, Sri Lanka has resumed efforts to integrate with key markets such as India and China. Sri Lanka will also resume trade negotiations with Thailand, which along with the FTA with Singapore, sets the steppingstone for Sri Lanka to engage in dynamic regional trading arrangements such as Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP),” he told Parliament. The six-time Prime Minister was elected President through an urgent parliamentary vote in July at the height of Sri Lanka’s crisis. He replaced former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country after being ousted by a popular people’s uprising.
In line with Wickremesinghe’s vision, the International Trade Office is focussing on greater engagement in the neighbourhood, a “look east” policy, for possible integration with RCEP down the line, Weerasinghe told The Hindu in an interview at his office facing the Presidential palace that anti-government protesters stormed in July in a culmination of mass agitations.
India and China are the top two sources of import for Sri Lanka. In 2021, Sri Lanka’s imports from India totaled In the coming talks with India, Sri Lanka seeks to negotiate an explicit acknowledgment of the “asymmetry” in trade with India [in the proposed ETCA]; work together to address some pending concerns over the implementation of the existing ISFTA and negotiate for an easing of quotas on Sri Lankan exports to India. “We must also take a fresh look at services. Rather than taking rigid, inflexible positions, we must see how to make this [pact] a win-win agreement for both countries,” Weerasinghe said. $ 4.74 billion, while the island nation exported about $980 million worth of good to India.
(The Hindu)
The government has chosen not to respond to questions raised by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) regarding the detention of retired Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay in connection with the ongoing investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested the ex-official in late February this year. The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers have jointly raised the issue on 20 July, 2026.
Drawing attention of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to what they called alleged arbitrary detention of Sallay, former Director General of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) and former Director of Military Intelligence (DMI), under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), as well as allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment while in custody, resulting in the grave deterioration of his health, and imminent risks of retaliation through further torture and ill-treatment resulting in irreparable harm, should he be released from hospital and returned to custody, the UN sought the government explanation with a 60-day period.
The UN has stated: “This communication, and any response received from your Excellency’s Government, will be made public via the communications reporting website at the 60 days mark. Should your Excellency’s Government respond within 60 days, both the communication and the response, may be published before the 60 days mark. The communications and responses
will also be made available in the subsequent periodic report to be presented to the Human Rights Council.”
In the absence of the government’s response, the UN posted the letter, dated 20 July, 2026, addressed to President Dissanayake. The full letter can be accessed https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=31125
News
Section of wartime KKS High Security Zone vacated to facilitate economic development in the area
The Army, last week, vacated an area, within the wartime high security zone in the Jaffna peninsula. The Defence Ministry said that an extent of 187.56 acres of land, belonging to the Cement Corporation in Kankesanthurai, Jaffna, has been released by the military. The released land, located in Grama Niladhari Division J/233, Kankesanthurai West, within the Valikamam North (Tellippalai) Divisional Secretariat Division, had been utilised by the Sri Lanka Army since the middle of 1997.
The release of the 187.56-acre extent forms part of the initiative to make State land available for the proposed investment zone in Kankesanthurai, thereby facilitating future investment and economic development in the area.
A complaint has been lodged with the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau against the Government Printer and the Secretary to the Ministry of Media regarding the online release of falsified documents bearing a forged Speaker’s certificate.
Attorney-at-Law Aruna Laksiri has lodged a complaint with the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau requesting legal action against the Government Printer of the Department of Government Printing (No. 118, Dr. Danister de Silva Mawatha, Colombo 08), Prasanna Jayaratne, and the Secretary to the Ministry of Mass Media (Asidisi Medura, 163, Kirulapone Mawatha, Polhengoda, Colombo 05), Dr. Anil Jasinghe.
The complaint alleges the commission of offences by forging and uploading falsified documents online using a forged Speaker’s certification, failure to perform statutory duties, and misappropriation of public property.
The complaint states that a copy of the English translation of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was downloaded and printed from the official website of the Government Printing Department (www.documents.gov.lk), which operates under the Ministry of Mass Media. On its outer cover and on page 1, the text “certified on 25th of September, 2026” is inscribed inside brackets.
The complaint pointed out that the Speaker has certified an English translation. Under Articles 23, 79, 83, and 80 of the Constitution, Parliament enacts laws and the Speaker certifies bills strictly in the Sinhala and Tamil languages; under the Constitution, therefore the Speaker cannot apply such certification to an English translation.
Showers or thundershowers will occur at several places in the most part of the island after 1.00 p.m
Geneva takes up Sallay’s case and govt. ignores opportunity to answer accusations
Section of wartime KKS High Security Zone vacated to facilitate economic development in the area
Lawyer lodges complaint against Govt. Printer, Media Ministry Secy.
Sri Lankan troops in joint anti-terrorist exercise in Russia
Nine Indian poachers brought to KKS with their boat
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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