Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Harsha de Silva has said Sri Lanka is keen to establish a tripartite arrangement for trade and investment with India and Singapore. Press Trust of India newspaper reported that Sri Lanka aims to conclude Economic Technology Cooperation Agreement with India for services this year, and is negotiating a free trade agreement with Singapore, Silva said.

He said at 'The Indian Ocean' forum organized by the Institute of South Asian Studies yesterday that the ETCA will enhance the scope of our existing India-Sri Lanka FTA to extend freer movement of goods and services with the added emphasis on cooperation in the development of technology and in investments.

The three trade pacts, including India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, will enable South Asia and Singapore to establish a tripartite arrangement for trade and investments, he said. He went on to highlight Sri Lanka's goal to boost exports to 20 billion US dollars by 2020.

The geo-political realities require that Sri Lanka builds strong bilateral relations with Bay of Bengal members of ASEAN, in addition to its fellow South Asian members, he added.