Thailand is proposing the use of the early harvest scheme (EHS) during the first round of free trade agreement (FTA) talks with Sri Lanka to accelerate implementation, as discussions began on Friday (14).
Deputy Commerce Minister of Thailand Chutima Bunyapraphasara said the EHS will help the FTA Sri Lanka to accelerate the negotiations faster as it usually takes 2-3 years at the soonest before a pact is settled.
President Maithripala Sirisena and Thai Premier Prayut Chan-o-cha, jointly announced the first round of FTA talks on Thursday after meeting in Colombo.
Sri Lanka is the fourth-largest trading partner of Thailand in South Asia and during 2013-17, bilateral trade between Thailand and Sri Lanka averaged US$ 491 million (16.4 billion baht) per year.
Ms. Chutima said Sri Lanka wants Thailand to open imports for Sri Lankan products, particularly for agricultural products such as tea, fruit, textile, jewellery, while Colombo is calling for more investment from Thai investors.
Thai companies are set to invest in Sri Lanka in the sugar and sugar cane, furniture, cement and agricultural industries, she said.
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