Thailand and Sri Lanka sign FTA to boost bilateral trade

Thailand and Sri Lanka signed a free trade agreement (FTA) and more in Colombo yesterday, aimed at boosting bilateral trade.

Prime Minister Srettha, who was in Sri Lanka to witness the signing, the second of its kind between the two countries, said in his Facebook post that the FTA will enable Thailand to expand trade to other markets in South Asia and Sri Lanka to use Thailand as a beachhead to expand its trade with other ASEAN countries.

Since many Thai companies already do business in Sri Lanka, the prime minister said that the FTA will open an opportunity for those companies to utilize infrastructure in Sri Lanka and tax privileges granted to Sri Lanka to expand their trade to other countries.

The prime minister also said that Thailand and Sri Lanka signed an agreement on air travel services and agreed to push for visa free travel to promote air travel between the two…