Sri Lanka has preferential and free trade agreements with India, Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, Singapore and Israel. It is currently in the processing of upgrading its agreement with India to a much more comprehensive one.
Sri Lanka is also party to SAFTA, the agreement on a South Asia Free Trade Area, as well as BIMSTEC, which aims to hammer out a regional FTA.
last update: May 2012 Photo: Sri Lankan engineers' association
Trade analysts say that Sri Lanka should make the most of existing trade deals like the Bay of Bengal Initiative before negotiating more bilateral and multilateral agreements.
The Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Pakistan said this week that the potential to expand trade between the two countries will be facilitated by the recently inked Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Minister of Export Development and International Trade Prof. G.L. Pieris delivering the keynote address on “Exports and Future Government Plans” at the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka said Nepal is keen on entering into an FTA with Sri Lanka.
In a major development, Colombo has agreed to work out a permanent solution to Islamabad's fears over the import of auto parts under the Free Trade Agreement between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. There are reports that India is going to invest in the auto sector in Sri Lanka under the India-Sri Lanka FTA. Islamabad fears that the auto parts to be made in Sri Lanka by India would be exported to Pakistan.
The Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement between Sri Lanka and Australia came into force with effect from March 14 with the completion by the Australian authorities of its domestic procedures for the entry into force of the Agreement.