SANEI: Completed Studies: Abstract

Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement: Assessing Potential And Impact On Bilateral Trade

In recent years regional trading arrangements have proliferated all over the world. The staring point of such arrangements is bilateral trading agreements which have similarly proliferated all over the world.

In South Asia the most recent illustration of bilateral trading agreement is the Indo-Sri Lankan Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) signed on 28 December 1998, operational since March 2000.

The ISFTA provides for both duty free as well as duty preference access for goods manufactured in the two countries and lays down a timetable for the attainment of a Free Trade Area (barring a negative list)

The proposed study endeavors to assess the implications of ISFTA from the point of view of its coverage, trade potential and impact. Given the trade preferences exchanged, it sets guidelines that could maximize the gains (or minimize costs). Further, in order to ensure sustainable trade expansion, it seeks to link trade with investment keeping in view the articulation of various interest groups, which promote or hinder the implementation of the Agreement.



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