The Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) between India and Sri Lanka will be signed by the end of this year, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka said. He also stated that the governments of the two countries were working to expand the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement to include services and investment as well.

The ETCA is expected to promote growth of up to 500 billion US dollar within the sub-regional economy. It will also help Sri Lanka get wider access to the rapidly growing Indian market.

The announcement to sign the ETCA, which has been under negotiation for some time now, was made by Wickremesinghe at the Inaugural Plenary at the India Economic Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) in New Delhi.

Sri Lanka was in the process of negotiating Free Trade Agreements with several countries. India would have access to not just the Sri Lankan market but also to markets in Singapore, Japan and China among others after these agreements come into force.

“The reforms being undertaken by India is making it a more attractive place for companies to do business,” Nirmala Sitharaman, minister of state for commerce and industry said. She also highlighted the measures undertaken by the Indian government in the recent past to help improve the country’s competitiveness in the world.

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