Sri Lanka To Negotiate FTA With India By End Of 2024
Sri Lanka will negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) with India by the end of 2024. Sri Lanka and India resumed talks on the Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement in Colombo in October 2023.
“Similarly, Sri Lanka will sign FTAs would be negotiated with Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and China too by the year’s end,” Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told reporters.
The talks for an India- Sri Lanka FTA were stalled after several rounds of talks between 2016 and 2018 due to political and union opposition
These agreements will open up new markets for the cash-strapped Sri Lankan businesses, contributing directly to the nation’s economic growth.
The government continues to struggle to restructure its external debt on the one hand and has raised utility rates and taxes on the other.
Last week, Sri Lanka inked an FTA with Thailand which has provided Sri Lanka access to a US $2.2 billion market.
