Criticism against CEPA due to ignorance of draft, says Tharoor

The main criticism against the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Sri Lankaand India was due to the ignorance of what is contained in the draft, said Indian Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor, while addressing the media in Kandy this morning.

Explaining the facts further, 54 year old Shashi Tharoor who previously served as the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information and the Indian Minister of State for the Ministry of External Affairs and who is also known as a prolific author, columnist, journalist and a human rights advocate, stated that the CEPA has to be compared with another agreement, the Sri Lanka- India Free Trade Agreement which was signed several years ago.

Mr. Tharoor was in Kandyto pay homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic at the Sri Dalada Maligawa. He met the media at the Central Province Chief Minister’s office where Chief Minister Tikiri Kobbekaduwa was also present.

The Free Trade Agreement between Indiaand Sri Lanka turned out to be extremely beneficial not only to India but to Sri Lanka as well, Mr. Tharoor said.

Adding further, he said, “It must not be forgotten that there are some trade agreements which turn out to be ‘trade creation agreements.’ This is what happened to SFTA. Not only did trade go up in the first year of agreement where Sri Lanka’s exports to Indiawere worth 45 million US dollars. That was in dollar terms. Equally important was that it went up as a percentage of India’s total imports. So during a period where India’s share of imports enjoyed by the United States, Europe and Japan was going down – every major country’s, except China’s was going down – Sri Lanka’s share went up. That was because of the FTA.

“It was also because the Indian government had genuinely accepted the position that there should be what we call an asymmetrical obligation where the larger country must accept a certain imbalance in the term of trade in order to benefit the smaller country to enjoy mutual benefit. CEPA too is based on the same principles.

“When I met President Mahinda Rajapaksa, he also told me that part of the problem in the criticism against CEPA is that the critics do not know what is in the document. The draft has not yet been made public in Sri Lanka. It is of course the government’s prerogative when to make it public. I am sure that in due course when the public is fully aware of what the draft contains, and they can be informed of the merits in the CEPA, I am confident that public opinion will change and Sri Lankans will see that the CEPA in Sri Lanka’s interests.”

Mr. Tharoor was among those who attended the Indian International Film Academy (IIFA) awards ceremony.

On IIFA, Mr. Tharoor said that holding such an event proved that Sri Lankawas well on its way to normalcy and was recovering from the effects of a near 30 year long conflict. Prospects for development were better as the process of healing is continuing, he added.