India and Sri Lanka discussed the contours of the proposed Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) at the fourth round of Commerce Secretary-level talks held here on Monday.

The talks were led by Indian Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia and TMKB Tennakoon, Secretary in the Sri Lankan Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Esala Weerakoon, who attended the meeting, said the two delegations exchanged ideas about the kind of areas each side wants incorporated in the India-Sri Lanka ETCA.

He told The Island today: "There will be a fifth round of talks either in January or February next year, when the two sides will put together a framework agreement. The agreement will be finalised by June, 2016."

As Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had said during his visit to India in September, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sri Lanka in June next year for the signing of the ETCA, Weerakoon said.

The ETCA will include cooperation between the two neighbours in areas such as investment, technology, research, higher education, tourism and people-to-people contacts, he added.

The bilateral trade between the two countries is just a little short of $5 billion at present. The ETCA is expected to give a major boost to economic ties.

(island.lk)