India and Sri Lanka have relaunched the negotiations for the Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ECTA) after a five year hiatus, the government said Wednesday.
The two sides held the 12th round of negotiations on the ETCA in Sri Lanka from October 30-November 1. They had held 11 rounds of bilateral talks from 2016 to 2018. after which the talks were paused.
“During this round, both sides reviewed the progress on implementation and decided to drop nine issues as being resolved,” commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.
Issues such as the quota on apparel and pepper and the procurement of pharmaceuticals were also discussed and both sides decided to continue the discussion and explore new options for resolution of the matter.
As per the statement, both sides took stock of the progress made till the 11th round and engaged in discussions on various chapters including trade in goods and services, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and dispute settlement, and identified the areas of convergence and areas where they need to find creative solutions.
“On the proposed ETCA, both sides agreed on the need to build on progress made in past, while revisiting their positions wherever possible to reflect new developments,” the ministry said.
The conclusion of the negotiations is expected to open new opportunities for trade and economic cooperation for both countries and would be a pivotal move to further enhance bilateral trade between the two countries.