Samagi Jana Balawega MP Eran Wickramaratne said that Government by appointing a committee to review the compliance of the MoUs signed with foreign countries proves the government and the administration has no experience international relations.
The President within 18 months of his coming to power has visited 14 countries and has signed several Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) said to boost trade and investment.
Addressing the press conference held at the opposition leader's office in Colombo, the MP further said that the government has also passed the Online Safety Act in haste and is now trying to amend it again. Since it is a legislative process we can amend such acts on our own.
But the appointment of this committee proves that neither the government nor the relevant officials understand that an MoU signed with the international community can be reviewed and revised unilaterally.
The President who has been appointed to be in power for the remaining period of his predecessor has visited 14 countries in 18 months. We should be able to transform the use of foreign trips by the President, who is said to have connections with foreign countries, to gain economic benefits
for the country.
What is the advantage of the President's foreign trips to the country? Economic growth should have been increased by bringing down the price index.
Explaining about the Free Trade Agreement signed with Thailand recently for duty-free export of goods, Wickramaratne MP said that this agreement does not bring any immediate benefits to the country.
One of the objectives of signing MoUs is to enable our country, which has a small economy, to export more products duty free. But through this agreement, Sri Lanka will get the opportunity to export goods to Thailand under tax concessions after the next 10 years.
When we signed such an agreement with India during the last good governance period, we were successfully negotiated to export goods to the Indian market duty-free from the first year, he said.
There is no point in publishing photos of state leaders shaking hands and smiling in the media. This government and officials have failed to negotiate and make agreements to the satisfaction of the consumer and our producers.
This is the only government that says inflation decreases when the commodity prices increase Is it acceptable to say inflation has decreased, when the government has declared the country bankrupted, unable to pay its debts, and after the inflation has increased by 100 percent and the prices of goods and services have risen excessively?
In the country which is said to be self-in rice, the price of keeri samba has increased from 260/ to 380/ rupees and samba has increased from 220/ to 270/, when the government grumble of a bumper harvest from the MAHA season of 2024.
The price of eggs has also gone up, the MP said.
This government's economic system affects the households a lot. As a result of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund, the prices of goods as well as electricity tariffs have increased. The cost of providing electricity in our country is three times higher than that of all countries in South Asia.
Accordingly, Sri Lanka is the country that charges the highest price per
unit. Due to this reason, electricity has been cut off in thousands of houses due to inability to pay their electricity bill.
Eran Wickramaratne stated that this increase in electricity will harm products from the carpentry industry in Moratuwa to all the workshops that use electric tools.