Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, who visited Sri Lanka with a high powered business delegation recently, has insisted the government to expedite the ECTA finalization process or face the consequences in delaying it.

He made India’s stance on this matter very clearly during his meetings with President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.

An announcement of ETCA finalization and the signing of draft framework agreement will take place at a ceremony to be held at Galle Face Hotel in Colombo on November 22 in accordance with the assurance given by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe to his Indian counterpart Nrendra Modi during Sri Lankan premier’s visit to India recently.

Indian Foreign Secretary Jaishankar has initiated several Industrial ventures BETWEEN the two countries during his visit to the island accompanied by an official delegation of top officials from public sector companies such as GAIL, NTPC, IOC and RITES and a team from the Confederation of Indian Industries.

Several MOU’S were signed water supply projects, locomotives, road and highway construction have already been signed before the announcement of ETCA draft document finalization in Colombo this year, informed source said.