Sri Lanka-Singapore FTA a win-win for both sides
Bilateral ties are warm, but not matched by equal robustness in their trade and business ties. This free-trade agreement will change that.
WHILE the global trade war threatens to disrupt global trade and the prospects of global economic growth, encouraging signs of commitment to trade are visible elsewhere.
The EU-Japan bilateral free-trade agreement (FTA) paving the way for unrestricted trade within their combined economies of more than US$20 trillion is great for trade prospects in the Asia-Pacific. The prospects would also be augmented by the Sri Lanka-Singapore FTA (SLSFTA) that came into effect in May 2018.
The SLSFTA is Sri Lanka's first FTA since 2005 and the most comprehensive it has signed so far. It represents a modern 21st century FTA, with not just traditional trade issues like trade in goods, trade remedies, trade facilitation and dispute settlement, but also 'WTO plus or extra' issues - such as competition, investment, intellectual property and procurement - which are discussed by ambitious FTAs like the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
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