Appointment of committee to review MoUs proves government lacks understanding of international affairs – Eran

By appointing a committee to review the compliance of the MoUs signed with other countries has demonstrated that it has no experience in international relations, says SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne.

President Wickremesinghe has visited 14 countries since 2022 and signed several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) purportedly to boost trade and investment.

Addressing the media at the opposition leader’s office in Colombo, Wickramaratne said that the government had also passed the Online Safety Act in haste and is now trying to amend it again. Since it is a legislative process we can amend such acts on our own. “But the appointment of this committee proves that neither the government politicians nor the relevant officials understand that a MoU signed with the international community cannot be reviewed and revised unilaterally.

Explaining about the Free Trade Agreement signed with Thailand recently for duty-free export of goods, Wickramaratne said t this agreement did not yield any immediate benefits to Sri Lanka. “One of the objectives of signing MoUs is to enable our country, which has a small economy, to export more products duty free. But through this agreement, Sri Lanka will get the opportunity to export goods to Thailand under tax concessions after the next 10 years. When we signed such an agreement with India during the last good governance period, we successfully negotiated to export goods to the Indian market duty-free from the first year itself, he said.

“There is no point in publishing photos of state leaders shaking hands and smiling in the media. This government and officials have failed to negotiate and make agreements to the satisfaction of the consumer and our producers.”