Lanka to sign ETCA and not CEPA With India

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe assured parliament on Wednesday, that his government proposes to sign with India an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) and not the much maligned Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) as feared by Sri Lankan professional organizations.

Answering a charge by the Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) that the ETCA is but CEPA under a different garb, Wickremrsinghe said that it is a totally different one and that trade unions like GMOA very well know that.

The government has had talks with the trade unions, including the GMOA, on the framework of the ETCA. And the unions, including the GMOA, have expressed satisfaction with the framework and thanked the government for being transparent. "But the GMOA representatives went out of the meeting and told the media something else," Wickremesinghe complained.

He further said that the meeting with India scheduled to take place later this month, will be only on the framework of the ETCA and that when the agreement itself is negotiated, the trade unions will be involved.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama denied that the ETCA would open the floodgates for the influx of Indian professionals, including barbers, into Sri Lanka.

Samarawickrama said that only IT enabled services and the highly skilled workers category in the Colombo Dockyard Ltd.,would be opened to Indian professionals.

The Development Strategies Minister further said that with India on the verge of introducing a single General Sales Tax (GST) regime for the whole country , the longstanding problem of subjecting Lankan exports to varying taxes in India will be solved.India, he said, will become a single market which will be to the advantage of Lankan exporters.India is also ready to discuss other Non-Tariff Barriers (NTB), he added.

Samarawickrama said that it is time Lankan entrepreneurs became part of the Indian supply chain which is expected to grow with the new "Make in India" policy. The Minister said that a Lankan team will be having talks on  a framework for ETCA in New Delhi on December 21.(The New Indian Express)