News
NJC warns of pitfalls in ETCA, says process lacks transparency
View(s):The National Joint Committee (NJC), a non-profit organisation, has urged the Government not to enter into an Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with India.
Outlining its objections, the NJC said in a statement that the Government should not enter into ECTA because:
(a) the objectives and strategies as to how Sri Lanka will benefit from it — the essential precursor to any successful bilateral negotiation — do not seem adequately defined,
(b) the Sri Lankan regulatory and quality assurance machinery seems unprepared and incapable of preventing an eventual low quality influx, and
(c) the process adopted by the Government does not appear transparent, professional or patriotic.
The statement cautioned that the opening up of shipping and IT sectors, which are targeted for liberalisation under the proposed agreement, could cause unemployment among Sri Lankans in the relevant fields, bring down salaries and cause a brain-drain.
The NJC said it also believed the agreement would discourage investment in skills-development activities in Sri Lanka and result in substandard workmanship in the products turned out, thus leading to longer term negative impacts on the country’s international competitiveness.
Urging the Government to make the ETCA negotiation process transparent, the NJC warned that failure to do so would be a violation of the fundamental rights of citizens.
“We wish to emphasize that it would be unethical for the Government to act as if the concerns of the people and the professionals do not matter and their decision to sign the agreement will prevail regardless. We strongly advise against such arbitrary conduct and such authoritarian attitude, which is likely to politically backfire,” the statement said.
The NJC said that it believed that the eventual agreement must be tabled in Parliament and approved by a two thirds majority for it to have the force of law as per Article 157 of the Constitution.
The committee advised the Government to go for any agreement with India only after an agreement between the two countries was signed on the issue of Indian fishermen poaching in Sri Lanka’s territorial waters.
“Last, but not least, we remind the Government that it is negotiating with a country that has been trying to annex Sri Lanka; a country that created terrorism to destabilise Sri Lanka and a country that used arm-twisting tactics to change our constitution, violated our air space and set its troops upon our people. All its dealings with Sri Lanka have not been with good intent but of a diabolical nature to further its foothold and strategic leverage in this country. We can, or should, never forget this.”