Sri Lanka’s government under President Ranil Wickremesinghe is likely to resume stalled talks on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China along with India’s Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), two sources said, as the island nation struggles to find a way out of a currency crisis and sovereign debt default.

Sri Lanka is caught in a geopolitical cold war between China and India with the backing of the United States, analysts say. That cold war has led Sri Lanka to be extremely cautious in dealing with both Asian powers and even to forego some investment opportunities.

However, the economic crisis and sovereign debt default have compelled the island nation to look into all available avenues to ensure more foreign inflows to move away from the crisis.

Wickremesinghe last week told visiting Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power that he is focusing on an export-oriented, very competitive market economy for Sri Lanka as the country has the opportunity to supply to South Asia, Southeast and east Asia.

Four days after the meeting with Power, President Wickremesinghe at an official function said the FTA would be revived and upgraded into a comprehensive economic and technological partnership and that his government would focus on the Indo-Sri Lanka projects that were delayed.

“It does not mean Sri Lanka will go only with India. The Chinese FTA talks also will be resumed,” a source close to the president and who is aware of the new developments on international trade told EconomyNext.

Deep pockets

Amid protests by trade unions, Sri Lanka under Wickremesinghe’s premiership in the Yahapalana government suspended a proposed CEPA with India in December 2015 and attempted to enter a new Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) in 2016. But Wickremesinghe had to suspend ETCA as well in the face of stiff resistance from trade unions.

Similarly, Wickremesinghe had to temporarily stop FTA talks with China in 2018 under the last administration because Beijing disagreed with Colombo’s demand for a review of the deal after 10 years.

“Sri Lanka needs China’s deep pockets and India’s healthy relationship. So one country cannot be compromised with another. They are both important for Sri Lanka to get out of the current crisis,” the source said.

Wickremesinghe publicly said last week that he wants to remove all barriers to trade in negotiations with India.

“I think the future relations of India with its neighbours will be determined by trade integration. Trade integration gives an economic base. Common economic base is a prerequisite for a better national security and better political relations. So, keeping this in mind, we are taking two major steps,” President Wickremesinghe said addressing an event to mark the 75’th anniversary of independence of India.

President Wickremesinghe, however, has so far not commented on the FTA with China.

The Chinese embassy in Colombo declined to comment on resuming FTA talks.

“Both FTA and CEPA would go together,” another source who has knowledge on the FTA with China told EconomyNext.

Source: Economy Next

An Ambassadors’ Forum on debt restructuring and International Monetary Fund (IMF) program commenced a short while ago under the patronage of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

A total of 16 Colombo-based missions are participating in the forum, the President’s Media Division (PMD).

Meanwhile, six other participants are taking part in the forum from New Delhi virtually, the PMD added.

Earlier this month Sri Lanka reached a preliminary deal with the IMF for a loan of about USD 2.9 billion contingent on it receiving financing assurances from official creditors and negotiations with private creditors.

Source: Adaderana

SLPP MP Prof. G.L. Peiris yesterday said that the government rebels in the opposition ranks were not given time to speak in Parliament.

Speaking to the media at the Parliament ground, Prof Peiris said that the government accused of suppressing the voices of people has now extended its grip of silencing the critics in Parliament by not allocating time to the opposition MPs to speak in debates.

Prof Peiris said that time in debates was not allocated to 13 SLPP MPs who joined the opposition ranks. “Today the debate in the House was on strategies to increase the national income. MPs of our group are not given time. This is deliberate silencing of the critics of the government.” he said.

It is useless to talk about the privileges of a Member of Parliament if the fundamental right to speak is violated. This is a total disruption of the Parliament democracy.

Prof Peiris said that the MPs who had been deprived of participating in the debates would write to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Inter-Parliamentary Union and the SAARC member nations of the unjust act.

Source: The Island Online

Former Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) MP Sivasakthy Ananthan yesterday (20) said that around 1,200 war-affected children in the Northern Province are still bearing shrapnel in their bodies and are yet to receive adequate healthcare to cope with their conditions.

Back in 2016, when Ananthan was a MP, during the Budget debates, he pointed out to then-Prime Minister and incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe about the difficulties faced by these children and the lack of healthcare facilities for the children and adults bearing pieces of shrapnel. In response, Wickremesinghe had requested Ananthan to initiate a dialogue with the Minister of Health at the time and to submit a report of the numbers affected. Speaking to The Morning, Ananthan said that he had submitted a report including the details of 750 children out of 1,200 in 2016 as requested by Wickremesinghe, but that there was no action taken.

The affected persons had complained to Ananthan that the hospitals in the North were lacking facilities to treat their conditions.

“This situation remains the same. Some children who can obtain financial support have removed the shrapnel from their bodies with the help of Indian doctors, while most are still bearing the shards,” he added.

Ananthan noted that there are children with shrapnel in their heads and spinal areas. To some of them, the doctors have advised that removing such could be a threat to their lives, and therefore, they continue to live with the condition.

“I appeal to President Wickremesinghe to provide assistance to these children. Not everyone is financially stable enough to get the shrapnel removed; thus the Government should help them to survive,” he added.

He also noted that he would reach out to President Wickremesinghe through former Northern Province Chief Minister and incumbent Tamil Makkal Thesiya Kuttani (TMTK) MP C.V. Wigneswaran to highlight this matter.

Meanwhile, Northern Province Governor Jeevan Thiyagarajah, speaking to The Morning, said that the presence of shrapnel does not always translate to the need for removal.

“It is subject to medical advice on the necessity. However, the principal cost must not be a reason not to attend to any removal, particularly for those less resourced. We will revisit this subject and inquire from every healthcare facility on the needs of those they attended to previously,” he added.