The Sri Lankan government should launch a National Policy on signing International/Foreign trade agreements before signing any more trade agreements, especially ETCA, Government Medical Officers’ Association President Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya said.

Addressing the media in Colombo today, he stated that now there is a bilateral trade agreement with India for goods. It will be extended to the service sector through ETCA.

Then it will be trade and services agreement.

However, even the existing trade agreement for goods is not doing any good for Sri Lanka, he added. Dr. Padeniya pointed out that opening these sectors for other countries without a National Policy would definitely harm the country.

Therefore, it is essential to have a National Policy on signing International/Foreign Trade agreements with other countries. The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) will hand over a public petition with one million signatures to President Maithripala Sirisena demanding the Government to establish a National Policy of signing International Trade Agreements. The public commenced to sign the petition yesterday (Monday) at 12 noon at the GMOA Head Office, Colombo 7.