Chinese Ambassador asks SL Govt why talks halted on FTA

As Sri Lanka is facing an economic crisis mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, China has expressed its desire to resume the stalled Free Trade Agreement with Sri Lanka in order to boost exports, China’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong said yesterday.

He said that visiting State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held positive discussions with the Sri Lankan government leaders on the FTA.

“During the State Councillor’s visit this time, he himself and leaders of Sri Lanka’s government had a very good discussion on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as well as Comprehensive Economic and Technical Framework Corporation,” the ambassador told a group of newspaper editors last evening.

He also questioned why the Sri Lankan government halted talks with the Chinese government on the FTA. “Already we had six rounds. I would like to ask the Sri Lankan government why the talks were halted. I don’t know why,”the ambassador said.

Since 2017, during the last regime, ministerial level discussions were held on the possible FTA between two nations but halted reportedly due to some conditions in the proposed FTA. Ambassador Qi Zhenhong also said if Sri Lanka is able to have this FTA, it can export products to a market of 1.4 billion population in China.

The ambassador also said that when State Counsellor Wang Yi had discussions with the Sri Lankan leaders, he explained that “we should encourage exports and professionals to study the FTA discussions very soon.” “Wang said any questions or concerns on the FTA from the Sri Lanka side can be raised.we are open for that,”adding to that the ambassador said that “if one particular item is not good enough for Sri Lanka, you can ask more and we will do the study, as we have a flexible policy.” (SUNIL JAYASIRI)