Free Trade Agreements between Sri Lanka and Singapore will be signed before the end of the first half of the year highly placed sources within the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade, said.
The next round of discussions will be held in April this year after the residual issues are dealt with by the first six months it is expected that the FTA will be signed.
The proposed agreement covers broadly, other than goods and services investments, economic corporation, customs, procedures and trade facilitation. In addition the services sector will be dealing on financial services, telecommunications services, and e-commerce etc.
“It is a fairly comprehensive policy. What we are looking mostly is to strive and create an environment to bring Singapore investments. That is one of the main areas that we are concentrating.
We want to attract further investments to the country and a way of accommodating it is to give them the assurance that their investments will be protected and to create a conducive environment for it,” the sources said. The fourth round of discussions were held in Colombo on the 16th and 17th of this month.
Meanwhile Prime Minister visited his Singaporean counterpart Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday during a stopover on the way home from his official visit to Australia, both met over a dinner.
“He invited me to visit Sri Lanka - hopefully to sign the FTA!” Prime Minister Lee wrote on his facebook post after the dinner.
Bilateral trade between the two countries was S$2.05 billion in 2015, with local exports totaling S$1.9 billion that year, while Singapore’s imports totaled S$146 million, Singapore media reported.
Meanwhile Thailand and Sri Lanka are set to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) later this year, aiming to triple bilateral trade to US$ 5 billion (52.5 billion baht) over the next five years.
Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, who met with Malik Samarawickrama, Development Strategies and International Trade Minister in Bangkok yesterday said the two countries aimed to sign the FTA in August when he is visiting Sri Lanka with a trade delegation, the Bangkok Post reported. Thai trade and investments will especially focus in jewellery, industrial estates, electronics and consumer products.
The Deputy Prime Minister said Sri Lanka’s Free Trade Pacts with India and Pakistan, which are large markets, would also be an advantage. The two way trade between the two countries currently stands at US$ 477 million.