Sri Lankan opposition against deal with India

Colombo, Feb 19: Sri Lanka’s opposition on Friday said it has decided to oppose a proposed Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ECTA) with India. A statement by the opposition, which includes some members of the political party headed by President Maithripala Sirise, said an economic and technical pact with India will make sense if Sri Lanka can obtain some technical or economic input from New Delhi which Colombo cannot provide for itself, Xinhua reported. However, the opposition said the present government seems to be intent on handing over to the Indians what can easily be done by locals. The opposition said that before any new agreement is entered into, the shortcomings in the existing Free Trade Agreement with India should be ironed out and bureaucratic blocks that Sri Lankan exporters have experienced in India should be elimited.  (IANS)