October 21, 2003
During the visit of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister to India in June 2002, a decision was taken to widen the ambit of the Free Trade Agreement to go beyond trade in goods to include services, to facilitate greater investment flows between the two countries and to explore new areas of economic cooperation. The two Prime Ministers appointed an India-Sri Lanka Joint Study Group (JSG) in April 2003 to make recommendations for the establishment of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
The JSG completed its deliberations in October 2003 and presented its recommendations to the two Prime Ministers on 20.10.2003 during the visit of the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka to New Delhi. It concluded that entering into a CEPA would take the two countries to a qualitatively new level of engagement by intensifying and deepening bilateral economic interaction, building on the advantages of close political relations and geographical proximity.
The Prime Ministers congratulated the members of the Group on the speed with which they had prepared a comprehensive report with far-reaching recommendations and directed that negotiations begin immediately with the target of concluding them by the end of March 2004.
The Government will examine the recommendations of the Joint Study Group and, as directed by the two Prime Ministers, begin negotiations at the earliest.