This was agreed upon at secretary-level talks on December 21.

The framework agreement will be formulated in consideration of the opposition to the CEPA, and the ETCA will take the current Indo-Lanka FTA to the next level, she said.

Parallel to this, a workshop will take place for Sri Lankan exporters and officials to increase awareness of Indian standards, regulations, certificate of origin, and other measures.

For a small country like Sri Lanka, it is always advantageous to engage in rules-based trading with a larger trading partner like India, and ETCA will provide that framework for deeper economic engagement with India,” the ministry said in a statement.