South China Morning Post
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Sri Lanka, racked by civil unrest and economic disruptions for much of the year, has resumed free-trade agreement talks with China over the past two months amid new social stability within the island nation, the South Asian country’s ambassador in Beijing said on Friday.
“It’s been going on not at a high level, but at an official level,” Palitha Kohona told the Post.
“We are in a hurry because we would like to see more goods get access to the Chinese market.”
The two sides will consider an “asymmetric” trade deal that would address the small size of Sri Lanka’s economy compared to China’s and cover “low-hanging fruits” rather than every potential item eligible for import tariff cuts, Kohona added.
Talks that began in 2014 had reached a fifth round in 2017, when the two sides exchanged views on trade, investment and economic cooperation, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
The Chinese ministry lists its Sri Lanka free-trade agreement – China’s potential third in South Asia after Pakistan and the Maldives – as “under negotiation”.
China knows that Sri Lanka has gone “back to normal” following social unrest earlier in the year, Kohona said, and despite remaining financial issues, “Sri Lanka is much more stable than two or three months ago”.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month reached a preliminary agreement for a US$2.9 billion loan to help Sri Lanka overcome inflation and shortages of daily essentials that sparked anti-government riots. Sri Lanka expects the IMF board to approve the loan by the end of the year.
