Australia ready to help Sri Lanka join RCEP-world’s largest free trade zone

Colombo, Feb. 12 (Daily Mirror) - Australia is willing to help Sri Lanka join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which is the world’s largest free trade agreement covering 15 nations and nearly 30 percent of the global population and GDP, High Commissioner Matthew Duckworth said.

Signed on November 15, 2020, it brings together 15 Asia-Pacific countries- 10 ASEAN nations: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and five Asia-Pacific partners: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

During a roundtable discussion arranged by Pathfinder Foundation, he said that Australia is ‘very happy’ to work with the Sri Lankan authorities in terms of training or capacity building support, for example. He said Australia is also willing to help position Sri Lanka to be able to meet the requirements of the RCEP.

“We are pleased that Sri Lanka is exploring acceding to the agreement,” he said in response to a question.

Asked how Sri Lanka can strike a trade deal with India which is opposed to the RCEP, he said, “Australia is a proud member of the RCEP. We also have a trade agreement with India. We are in the process of negotiating an enhanced or improved second trade agreement with India. India doesn't have any concerns about Australia being a member of both of those agreements. India was involved in the negotiation of the RCEP. They were an active part of building some of its provisions. We would certainly welcome India joining that agreement in future. But of course, we respect it was their decision to not join, “he said

He said that he does not see any contradiction between Sri Lanka joining the RCEP and having a very positive trade relationship with India at the same time.

“If it came to the question of how Australia could support, Australia would always be willing to talk to our friends in India about our approaches and why we are supporting Sri Lanka to join the RCEP, “he said.

Australia is happy to encourage India to consider at some point in the future joining RCEP, he said. Referring to lentils being grown in the southeast of Australia, he said though his country is very effective at growing them, it is not competitive enough in processing them because of relatively high labour, energy and other costs.

“There is a very well established investment and business now that imports Australian lentils to Sri Lanka, splits them, processes them, packages them and then sells them around the region,” he said.

“I think this is a really good example of a trade that benefits Australia, selling the raw product to Sri Lanka. It benefits Sri Lanka. It drives jobs here and then gets export revenue for Sri Lanka. There would be potential for more of those sorts of investments. I know Sri Lanka has one of the top 20 ports in the world here in Colombo. That is a real strategic asset that would enable Sri Lanka to potentially look to secure more of this sort of trade and investment, “he said.