Colombo, Oct 14: In a bid to further boost growing bilateral trade, Sri Lanka is seeking to upgrade its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India to include services and investments, officials said today. The possibility of an economic cooperation agreement will be taken up during the joint commission talks with Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha tomorrow, officials said.
Trade ministry officials said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will have with him an outline of a proposed economic cooperation agreement when he travels to New Delhi at the weekend.
The Free Trade Agreement currently covers only goods but not services and investments.
A trade gap that favoured India has come down sharply since the two countries signed a free trade agreement in 1998.
The balance of trade which favoured India 15 to one when the agreement was signed has come down to five to one, according to the Central Bank here.
Bilateral trade reached a billion dollars last year with Indian exports amounting to 831 million dollars, up from 604 million dollars in 2001.
Sri Lanka's exports to India rose more dramatically to hit 167.7 million dollars last year, up from 70.8 million dollars in 2001. India, however still does not allow free access to Sri Lanka's main export commodity tea as well as garments.
Bureau Report