The Commerce Department is preparing a comprehensive document on the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Sri Lanka, which has drawn the ire of local industrialists and service providers, and will soon make it available to the public.
This action, also based on growing pressure to make public the agreement, has been taken in consultation with the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka and on the instructions of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, a senior official of the Ministry said.
The preparation of the document is almost completed, he added. But he pointed out that no one can complain – after the document is in the public domain - about the unavailability of details on CEPA as the government is ready to share this document with the public, outlining all aspects of the agreement with full transparency.
This came as the Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs (COYLE), in the forefront of protests over the proposed agreement and organised a street demonstration to back their demands, said it’s planning to form a pressure group to oppose the agreement.
COYLE is organising a public seminar on Tuesday August 3 aimed at creating awareness among Sri Lanka stakeholders on the proposed agreement and says it wants to create a lobby to “justify to the policy makers whether Sri Lanka needs this type of economic partnership agreement with India at this juncture on top of the FTA in which our entrepreneurs and investors face many hardships and barriers outside the terms stipulated in FTA.”
The seminar will be held at the auditorium of the Centre for Banking Studies of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka at Rajagiriya.
The chamber recently organised a street protest over CEPA and later, at a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, won assurances that the agreement will only be signed after careful consideration of many issues.
The Ministry official said the government hasn’t finalized the deal with India and the public document will be open for public debate and suggestions, he added. The Commerce Department has already held several rounds of talks with trade and commerce chambers and business forums, and the private sector consultation process is still continuing.
All commerce and industry chambers would be consulted with a view to obtaining suggestions of the business community and industrialists before the government finalises the agreement.
Further measures will be taken by the Ministry to create awareness and exchange views of the relevant stakeholders especially among Sri Lankan entrepreneurs, business managers, professionals, academics, policy makers, service providers, trade unionists and the public on the proposed agreement
Speakers at the COYLE seminar would be W K H Wegapitiya, Chairman, Laugfs Holdings Ltd and current Chairman of COYLE, Samantha Kumarasinghe, Chairman, Multichemi Group and Director Mawbima Lanka Foundation, Chris Dharmakeerthi, Director, SEMA, and Dileepa Witharana, Senior Lecturer, Open University and a Specialist in international trade agreements.
(Visit connected story to where pleas were made for the agreement to be made public) |
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