Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Santosh Jha has urged Sri Lankans not to fear the Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), stating that it will pave the way for investments to flow into the island and that fears of job losses are irrational.

Jha made these remarks while speaking at an event organised by the Organisation of Professional Associations in Colombo.

The High Commissioner explained that the aim of the ETCA is to "improve the old Free Trade Agreement to meet current requirements and strengthen procedures to prevent its misuse."

He said that the agreement would overcome hindrances to trade through "mutual recognition agreements" and would also open up the services sector, which is a major part of both countries' economies.

"Services and goods are interconnected... For that reason, we need to open up the services sector as well," he noted.

Addressing fears of job losses, Jha said that under the World Trade Organisation's Mode 4, which governs the movement of professionals, there is a "very fixed, limited allocation."

He added, "It is not an open-ended situation where there is a flood of talent moving from one country to the other. Therefore, there is no such fear in terms of any loss of opportunities. In fact, there would be a much greater opportunity."

He also touched on how the ETCA could facilitate attracting larger investments.

"If you look at Indian companies that have invested in Sri Lanka, I don't know of more than two or three that have more than five to ten Indians working in their enterprises. They employ entirely Sri Lankan staff," he highlighted.

Citing examples like Lanka IOC and the Taj Samudra, he added, "We do not seek an arrangement that is more beneficial to India, because we know that it's not practical. Let me also underline that we are not pushing for any FTA improvement or expansion. We are not asking for it. We are waiting for Sri Lanka to wake up and realise that it is indeed beneficial."

Jha also highlighted the benefits of the existing Free Trade Agreement, saying it has been very generous to Sri Lanka and has uplifted the island's export growth for more than two decades.

He presented data showing Sri Lanka's exports to India grew from USD 50 million to USD 1.4 billion over 25 years, while India's exports to Sri Lanka grew from USD 500 million to USD 4 billion in the same period.

He pointed out that this shows an asymmetric agreement in favour of Sri Lanka.

He contrasted the FTA with the higher tariffs imposed by other nations. "You have a situation where a country has imposed much higher tariffs on Sri Lanka... Compare that with India. India was a much smaller economy... and we extended more liberal terms to you than we sought from you. In fact, the India-Sri Lanka agreement is asymmetric in favour of Sri Lanka."