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Govt. urged not to sign agreements at WTO conference
The Patriotic National Movement (PNM) has urged President Mahinda Rajapakse that Sri Lanka should not sign any agreements at the forthcoming sixth WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in Hong Kong from December 13 to 18.

Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle is to represent Sri Lanka at the meeting where discussions are to be held on finalizing three important treaties namely the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) as well as on NAMA – which covers all products not covered by AOA.

The Movement warned, in a letter, that if the country signs these treaties, it would be detrimental to the country and would inevitably destroy the “Mahinda Chinthanaya” programme of the President. In general, ministerial conferences are the WTO’s highest decision-making body, meeting at least once every two years and providing political direction for the organization.
The PNM said that if the GATS is signed it would give the licence for any multi-national company to come into the country and trade freely while the state will not be able to give special assistance to any national trade, big or small.

The state will not have either the provision for taxing or for setting standards on environmental needs or impose an embargo, if the agreements are signed. This means it will not be able to provide security to local investors. The national trader will not be able to compete with the multi-national companies, and would be in their grip, the letter said. The PNM has said the AOA will be especially detrimental to at least 70 per cent of our farmers and our plans to develop the economy will remain just a dream.

The Movement has asked the President to advise the Government representative who would participate in the meeting to be informed of these facts and make sure that no such agreements are made at the end of that meeting.

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