Expert Committee hands over report on Singapore-Sri Lanka FTA to President

Dec 11, 2018 (LBO) - The report compiled by a Presidential Commission on the Sri Lanka – Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA), was handed over to President Maithripala Sirisena Monday.











In a tweet, President Sirisena said that the report highlights how the agreement had been rushed without the proper consent of stakeholder institutions.

The presidential committee was chaired by retired Economics Professor W.

D. Lakshman. The committee reviewed the new Trade Policy Paper of the Agreement, projections on how the removal of import duties - within a period of three years - will impact domestic industries and the consumer, assessments of the impact the agreement would have on other service sectors of Sri Lanka and the preparation of policy guidelines, on how the Sri Lanka-Singapore trade agreement should take shape, for the future. Sri Lanka and Singapore signed the Free Trade Agreement on 23 January 2018 during the official visit of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to Colombo.