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Jeyaraj dams FTA with Pakistan
By Chris Kamalendran
Trade and Commerce Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle is openly defying the implementation of the Sri Lanka-Pakistan free trade agreement after he was excluded from the nine-member delegation that visited Islamabad last week for the signing of the deal.

The delegation led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga included Ministers Lakshman Kadirgamar and Ferial Ashraff with Mr. Kadirgamar signing the agreement while Pakistan's Commerce Minister Hamayun Akhtar Khan signed on behalf of his country. When the delegations returned to Colombo, the Presidential Secretariat had forwarded the FTA and related documents to Minister Fernandopulle for him to put it for formal ratification by the cabinet.

Mr. Fernandopulle has returned the documents to the secretariat and told his Ministry officials he will not sign any documents related to trade matters based on agreements reached during the Pakistan visit. "I have instructed my officials to return the documents sent for my approval," Mr. Fernandopulle told The Sunday Times.

During the visit by the President and the ministerial delegation from February 7 to 9, various trade matters were taken up with the Pakistan government and the FTA was signed.

Mr. Fernandopulle said that when an official Pakistan delegation visited Sri Lanka to discuss the proposed FTA, he was involved in the discussions, but eventually he had not been included in the delegation.

"I played a key role in working out the agreement. I did the spadework. But I had been left out," he said. Mr. Fernandopulle said he did not know why he was left out and he would seek clarification from the President.

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