Sri Lanka wants a longer time-period to negotiate a free trade agreement with China, to make sure stakeholders are satisfied with the agreement, said Sri Lanka’s ambassador to China on Sunday.
Speaking to Reuters on the side-lines of an independence day event, Ambassador Karunasena Kodituwakku, said,
“We’d like to have the process a little longer, China would like to have it faster. Because Sri Lanka being a small economy, we have to get consensus from stakeholders. Therefore the delay is due to the time period. But we will eventually sign the agreement.”
There have been rising protests in Sri Lanka’s Sinhala south over Chinese infrastructure investments.
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