Plans are afoot for Sri Lanka and Japan to formulate and sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries to enhance bilateral trade.

The plan is for a possible FTA between Sri Lanka and Japan in 2015, according to the Sri Lanka-Japan Business Cooperation Committee.

This was revealed during a meeting held in Colombo by the Sri Lanka-Japan Business Cooperation Committee under the patronage of Japanese Ambassador in Sri Lanka Nobuhitho Hobo.

The Committee said that in preparation to ensure that it looks after the interests of its membership to further enhance their trading activities with Japan, the Committee would carry out a comprehensive study on the potential areas of items to be included in the FTA between Sri Lanka and Japan.

Suggestions would be sought from the members of the Sri Lanka-Japan Business Cooperation Committee, a report prepared and submitted to the Sri Lankan government for future consideration, said the Committee.

So far, Sri Lanka has been involved in a number of regional trade liberalization initiatives. The island participates in two regional agreements, the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) and the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) and two bilateral agreements, the Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) and the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (PSFTA). Furthermore, a FTA had also been discussed between Sri Lanka and China during the latter part of the previous regime.