In an urgent priority move Government is set to implement the Singapore – Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as soon as possible according highest priority to this task while expediting necessary official procedure towards this end, Presidential secretariat announced.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe instructed the relevant officials to implement the Singapore – Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA) immediately.
The President issued these instructions during the discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat this morning (16) with a group of high officials on the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement.
President’s Secretary Mr. Saman Ekanayake, Senior Economic Advisor to the President Dr. R.H.S.Samaratunga, Attorney General Sanjaya Rajaratnam, Secretary to the Ministry of Trade, Commerce and Food Security S.T. Kodikara, and Heads of Line institutions were present at this discussion.
The existing problems in this regard were discussed at length and the President highlighted the need to provide quick solutions to all the existing problems.
The free trade pact signed in January 2018 was suspended because of objections from Sri Lankan opposition parties and professional bodies. Sri Lanka proposed more than a dozen amendments in May 2021 but talks have largely stalled.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe met with the Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong in Tokyo recently and their talks focused on the implentaion of the FTA SOON.
During the discussions President Wickremesinghe informed the Singaporean Prime Minister that an international trade office was being established in the President’s office. He also explained that his priority was to bring into effect the Free Trade Agreement with Singapore.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong welcomed the news, and stated that Singapore was looking forward to investing in Sri Lanka once again.
.At that time of signing IN 2018 ,Sri Lanka was Singapore’s 36th-largest trading partner, according to Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, with bilateral trade amounting to Rs 352.4bn (US $2.2bn) in 2017.
This involved approximately RS326.3bn ($2.1bn) in exports from Singapore to Sri Lanka, with trade the other way registering around RS 23.2bn ($146.1m).
The agreement is the first comprehensive trade pact the government has signed beyond goods, covering services, investment, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, trade remedies, dispute settlement, Customs cooperation, government procurement, e-commerce and intellectual property rights.
The SLSFTA is additionally important because it is part of the government’s broader push to “look east” in building new trade ties and reducing the country’s dependence on EU and US export markets. For Sri Lanka, the SLSFTA promised more investment, with government officials saying that it would further open trade and boost manufacturing and services.
Covering far more than Sri Lanka’s existing deals with India and Pakistan, the SLSFTA is forecast to eliminate tariffs on around 80% of Singapore’s exports over a 15-year period, while also allowing Singaporean companies to bid for projects run by Sri Lanka’s government and state-owned enterprises.
Further cementing ties between the two nations, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre was listed as the go-to institution for any disputes between investors and state authorities.
