Sri Lanka's opposition today criticised the proposed Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with India as an attempt to "foreignise" the country's economy and demanded that the shortcomings in the existing FTA should be sorted out before concluding the deal.
In a statement issued the opposition said the agreement would be advantageous to India.
"Before any new agreement is entered into, the shortcomings in the existing FTA with India should be ironed out and the bureaucratic blocks that Sri Lankan exporters have experienced in India should be eliminated".
It slammed the agreement as an attempt to "foreignise" Sri Lanka's economy.
It says that Sri Lanka in 2014 imported USD 4,023 million worth of goods from India and exported only USD 625 million worth of goods.
The opposition charges that the agreement include goods, trade in services and investment and the Indian companies are under no obligations to recruit Sri Lankans.
"An economic and technical pact with India will make sense if Sri Lanka can obtain from India some technical and economic input which Sri Lanka cannot provide for itself," the statement said.
Meanwhile addressing reporters, Harsha de Silva, the deputy foreign minister, said the pact's content had not been agreed upon yet. Consultations with professional groups would commence next month.
He said the government was keen to explore the agreement to further economic opportunities to Sri Lanka.
