India, Sri Lanka to conclude economic cooperation agreement

The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) between India and Sri Lanka is likely to be ready by the end of this year with a new round of discussions beginning, official Daily News reported in Colombo Friday.

There were still asymmetries in trade despite the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two nations and the negotiations leading up to the proposed CECA would offer an opportunity to remove concerns of Sri Lankan exporters, Sri Lankan Director General of Commerce K J Weerasinghe was quoted as saying.

He said although the free trade agreement between the two countries has resulted in expansion of exports of both countries to one another, Sri Lanka's exports to India were still limited to a few items.

Weerasinghe said Colombo has set up working groups with a negotiating mandate to look into the entire gamut of issues including trade in services.

The India-Sri Lanka FTA was signed in 1998 and provides for duty free market access to both countries on preferential basis in a phased manner.

Source: Xinhua