In his address, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister of Sri
Lanka stated that his government and the Government of India were working to
expand the India – Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement to include services and
investment as well. The Prime Minister was addressing the Inaugural Plenary at
the India Economic Summit being organized by the Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII) and the World Economic Forum in New Delhi today.
He added that the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement
(ETCA) which has been under negotiation between the two countries should be
concluded by the end of the year.
He stated that as these agreements come into force, India would
have access to not just the Sri Lankan market but also to markets in Singapore,
Japan and China among others as Sri Lanka was in the process of negotiating
Free Trade Agreements with several countries.
In addition, he invited Indian companies to invest in Sri Lanka
especially in areas such as infrastructure development including ports,
airports and power, digital infrastructure, agriculture and fisheries and
skilling among others. He stated that the aim of his government was to convert
Sri Lanka into a Logistic, Finance and Business hub of South Asia.
According to Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State (IC) for
Commerce and Industry, Government of India, the reforms being undertaken by
India is making it a more attractive place for companies to do business.
The Minister highlighted three major reform measures undertaken by
the Government in the recent past which has helped improve the India’s
competitiveness in the world. These include the introduction of the Goods and
Services Tax (GST) which she stated would integrate 800 transactions onto a
single platform.
The second major initiative she highlighted was that of JAM or Jan
Dhan Yojana, Aadhar and Mobile. This initiative ensures financial inclusion of
those who are unbanked, direct transfer of benefits to recipients and
connectivity.
The third initiative she highlighted were the various measures
that the Government was taking to improve the Ease of Doing Business in the
Country. The Minister mentioned that the states have adopted this initiative
and are working to improve processes and regulations to help improve the ease
of doing business in the country.
In his address, Prof. Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman, World
Economic forum stated that according to the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Index,
India was now one of the 40 most competitive economies in the world thanks to
the reform measures that had been undertaken.
In his welcome address, Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General,
stated that the measures taken by the Government had helped improve the ease of
doing business in the country.
New Delhi
October 6, 2016