ISDS Case Map
services
If entering into trade agreements is opening up the floodgates to bigger countries, then some in Sri Lanka do not want the flood-gates opened to India, but the government has already done so, for seven other countries besides India. CEPA is carved in stone, some claim, but it is far from reality
The Democratic National Alliance in Sri Lanka has decided to ask for a parliamentary debate on the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement to be signed with India and asked the government to disclose the contents of the agreement.
South Asia Agreement on Trade in Services among seven South Asian countries including Pakistan and India is expected to end by the end of 2010, official sources informed Daily Times on Monday.
India and the ten-member ASEAN block will hold parleys on ways to conclude talks before the August 2010 deadline to widen the scope of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to include services and investment expected to provide huge opportunity to Indian professionals to work in Southeast Asia.
India will try to expedite negotiations on opening up trade in services with the 10-member ASEAN at a senior officials meeting next week in Jakarta.
Although the region has concluded a deal on market access to the European Union, there remain fundamental disagreements on trade in services. The EastAfrican has learnt that the matter will be left out of any deals signed this year as countries want it handled at a bilateral level.
India has taken the first concrete step towards concluding a deal with the Asean for liberalising trade in services, including cross-border movement of professionals, sending a request list to all Asean members pointing out where exactly the country wants greater access.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's current visit to India will be applauded by the Indian diaspora and recognizes both India's economic rise and its ability to weather the global financial crisis. The visit has replaced mutual indifference with mutual interest.
Services market within the Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) region could be liberalized. Trade ministers from Saarc countries have agreed to negotiate on liberalising the services market within the region.
Services industry practitioners and representatives from the East African region met to discuss and seek ways of building services coalitions to confront challenges in the sector and help unlock the region’s economic potential.
