News

Lanka to resume negotiations on stalled trade agreement with India

Published

4 years ago

2022/12/11

Thilina Walpola

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)

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News

Sun directly overhead Galle, Angulugaha, Imaduwa, Telijjawila, Yatiyana and Tangalle about 12.08 noon today (07)

Published

20 hours ago

2026/09/7

Priyan

The sun is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka from 28th of August to 07th of September due to its apparent southward relative motion.

The nearest places of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (07) are Galle, Angulugaha, Imaduwa, Telijjawila, Yatiyana and Tangalle about 12.08 noon.

News

‘Choka Malli’ slips out of country before travel ban

Published

22 hours ago

2026/09/7

Thilina Walpola

Premalal

By Norman Palihawadane

The CID recently found that former SLPP Deputy Minister Premalal Jayasekara, better known as ‘Choka Malli’, had left for Thailand when the Supreme Court imposed an overseas travel ban on him last Friday.

The CID discovered that Jayasekara had left Sri Lanka on August 31, while authorities were taking steps to enforce the travel restriction imposed by the Supreme Court. The Department has subsequently informed the Attorney General’s Department of the development.

The Supreme Court last Friday ordered Jayasekara, and two other men, to appear before court on October 21, and imposed a ban on their overseas travel.

The orders were made as the Supreme Court considered an appeal challenging the acquittal of the three men in connection with the 2015 murder of Shantha Dodangoda, also known as D.G. Sunil Perera.

The appeal was filed by Dodangoda’s wife against a decision of the Court of Appeal to acquit and release Jayasekara and the two other accused, who had previously been convicted and sentenced to death by the Ratnapura High Court.

Dodangoda was killed in a shooting in Kahawatta town, in the early hours of January 5, 2015, while a group of people were putting up decorations for an election rally in support of then common Opposition presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena.

Two others, Karunadasa Weerasinghe and Mohamed Ilfan, were seriously injured in the shooting.

Following the incident, the Ratnapura High Court convicted Jayasekara, former Chairman of the Kahawatta Pradeshiya Sabha Wajira Darshana de Silva, and former Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council member Nilanta Jayakody, sentencing all three to death.

The Court of Appeal subsequently acquitted the three men and ordered their release.

The victim’s wife later challenged the acquittal before the Supreme Court.

The appeal was taken up before a Supreme Court bench, comprising Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justices Achala Wengappuli and Gihan Kulatunga.

During the proceedings, Deputy Solicitor General Janaka Bandara requested that the court impose overseas travel restrictions on Jayasekara and the other respondents.

The Supreme Court subsequently ordered all three to appear before the court on October 21 and imposed travel bans on them.

President’s Counsel Nalin Ladduwahetty, President’s Counsel U.R. de Silva and President’s Counsel Anuja Premaratne appeared for the respondents. President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris represented the aggrieved party.

Police sources said that the discovery that Jayasekara had already left for Thailand, on August 31, has raised concerns over the timing and enforcement of the travel ban.

Sources said that the CID had notified the Attorney General’s Department and was taking further action in relation to the development.

News

Dengue death toll rises to 73

Published

22 hours ago

2026/09/7

Thilina Walpola

By Pradeep Prasanna Samarakoon

The number of deaths from dengue fever in Sri Lanka has risen to 73 this year, with 96,228 cases reported across the country so far, according to the Dengue Control Unit.

The latest figures indicate that dengue continues to pose a significant public health concern, with 737 new cases recorded during the first four days of September alone.

Dengue infections peaked in July, when 29,964 cases were reported, according to the latest data. June recorded the second-highest monthly total, with 21,533 cases, while 10,155 cases were reported in August.

Earlier in the year, 8,590 cases were recorded in May and 7,866 cases in January.The Western Province remains the worst-affected area, accounting for more than half of all dengue cases reported nationwide. A total of 50,851 cases have been recorded in the province, representing 52.84% of the country’s total.

The Southern Province has recorded 13,950 cases, followed by the Central Province with 8,818 cases and Sabaragamuwa Province with 7,925 cases.