Table ECTA in Parliament says Joint Opposition

In the latest chapter of the controversy over the proposed trade agreement with India the Joint Opposition yesterday called on the private sector to oppose the pact and demanded the Government table the documents in Parliament. 

In a statement released by MP Udaya Gammanpila the Joint Opposition also slammed Government approval of an ambulance service to be launched in Sri Lanka by GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (GVK EMRI) of India.

The statement extensively questioned as to why an Indian company was allowed to conduct operations in Sri Lanka through a Cabinet paper presented by the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. 

The Joint Opposition also asked why similar efforts could not be made to encourage the existing ambulance operators from expanding their services country wide. 

“We call upon the Sri Lankan business community, professionals, and the general public to oppose this foreignisation of the Sri Lankan economy by surreptitious means through executive fiat and the proposed ETCFA which is vague and has no specific provisions,” it said. 

The members of parliament supportive of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa also insisted the Government should stop encouraging Indian companies in sectors that can be expanded on by local companies. 

“We believe that any foreign investments in Sri Lanka should be channeled into areas that Sri Lanka is unable to develop on its own. The government has not tabled the proposed pact with India in parliament.” 

“Furthermore parliament has not been informed that the government has granted approval to set up an Indian ambulance service in this country with state patronage from both sides.” 

 “An economic and technical pact with India will make sense if Sri Lanka can obtain from India some technical or economic input which Sri Lanka cannot provide for itself such as for example in the automotive, chemical or pharmaceutical industries. However the present government seems to be intent on handing over to the Indians what can easily be done by locals. The UNP government of 2001-2004 sold a part of the Petroleum retailing business to the Indian Oil Company. However, no real economic or technical advantage has been gained by the IOC’s presence in this country. The substantial reduction in the price of crude oil has now resulted in huge profits for petroleum retailers and a good part of these profits now go abroad.” 

It alleged that under the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ECTA) the IOC model would be repeated many times over, undermining the local economy.  Even though the agreement currently under discussion is a framework agreement the Joint Opposition insisted it was critical as it would act as the blueprint for any future trade agreements inked by the two countries, and as such, they insisted it was crucial to scuttle it at its inception.  

The statement went onto say that even though Sri Lanka has to engage in trade with its closest neighbor, it should be done by ensuring bureaucratic blocks and complications arising from State level trade regulations in India which prevent the growth of Sri Lankan exports to that country, be ironed out. 

Gammanpila insisted that according to the latest draft of this agreement, the proposed is an Economic and Technical Cooperation Framework Agreement (ETCFA) which only sets a ‘framework’ for future agreements. The agreements that are to be entered into later under the framework of the ETCFA include an agreement on trade in goods, an agreement on trade in services and an agreement on investment – the same components that made up the old CEPA. 

“The difference this time however is that the ETCFA does not have specific provisions relating to any of these areas and the specifics are to be worked out only after the ETCFA is signed.”