Sri Lanka, India free trade talks to resume in December

Nov 26, 2010 (LBO) - India and Sri Lanka are to resume talks in December 2010 on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that had been stalled by protectionist lobbies on the island. "A delegation from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India would visit Sri Lanka on mutually convenient dates in December 2010 to resume discussions on such a framework from where they had been left in July 2008," a statement said.

The move follows talks between officials of the Departments of Commerce of the two countries on a more comprehensive framework for economic cooperation, said the statement at the end of the seventh session of the Indo-Lanka joint commission Friday.

The joint commission talks were co-chaired by visiting Indian foreign minister S M Krishna and Gamini Peiris, Sri Lanka's foreign minister.

"The Joint Commission also took note of the stakeholders’ consultations carried out by the Sri Lankan side on the draft framework text of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)," it said. Implementation of the CEPA, which aims to deepen and widen an existing free trade deal between the two neighbours, has been stalled by protectionist lobbies on the island