The Sri Lankan government is keen on clinching several free trade agreements with the US and other countries, and regaining lost trade preferences, such as GSP+, as exports and investments have dropped significantly.
"We are now in the process of negotiating with USA to get the Trade and Investment Facilitation Agreement (TIFA), apart from the EU GSP plus trade arrangement, to increase exports in the country. Because both markets are huge we have tremendous opportunity to focus on exports to those regions, " said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Harsha de Silva.
The minister said that trade and investment are the way forward and the government was very keen on working on the existing Free Trade Agreements with India and Pakistan to attract investment and enhance local exports.
"Today Sri Lanka is in a sad predicament when we look around the world and we have not achieved much, even though certain economic indicators of our's, like life expectancy and infant motility, are good. But we only compare and benchmark with poor countries and satisfy ourselves," he said.