He made the remark while addressing the annual general meeting of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce on 'India Sri Lanka Trade and Economy relationship' here.
Sri Lanka-India political relations appeared to have nose dived with New Delhi's support to the US-led resolution against Sri Lanka at UN human rights council in March.
During a visit last month to Colombo, Indian National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon urged Colombo to fulfil pledges made to India on reconciliation with the Tamil minority.
Referring to trade, Kantha said in 2011, the trade volume between India and Sri Lanka was 6.5 per cent of the island's total trade. But in the first six months of this year it was not so rosy with bilateral export volumes witnessing a sharp drop.
