Review on free trade agreement effectiveness submitted to cabinet

A Cabinet-appointed committee reviewing Sri Lanka’s existing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and the framework for future trade negotiations has submitted its final report to the Cabinet Office.

The findings, submitted two weeks ago, are scheduled for official review by the Cabinet of Ministers in the coming days.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Ministry of Trade, Commerce, Food Security, and Co-operative Development Secretary K.A. Vimalenthirarajah, who chaired the committee, stated that the panel was tasked with evaluating the concrete benefits of Sri Lanka’s present trade agreements and defining the structure for prospective accords.

Vimalenthirarajah confirmed that the report contains several specific recommendations for the Cabinet, though he declined to disclose further details prior to formal approval.

The initiative follows an aggressive trade expansion drive by the previous administration, which saw the signing of an FTA with Thailand alongside preliminary talks with China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka’s active trade portfolio currently includes the Indo-Sri Lanka FTA (ISFTA), the Pakistan-Sri Lanka FTA (PSFTA), the Singapore-Sri Lanka FTA (SSLFTA), and the recently enacted Sri Lanka-Thailand FTA (SLTFTA).

The island nation also participates in broader regional and global trade frameworks, such as the SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA), the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), the Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP), and the UK’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS).

Whether this latest bureaucratic review actually leads to meaningful policy reform or just gathers dust in a filing cabinet remains to be seen.