Sri Lanka looks to revive free trade deal with Singapore
Cash-strapped Sri Lanka will step up efforts to revive a stalled free trade pact with Singapore_ President Ranil Wickremesinghe told the city state s premier on Tuesday_ his office said in a statement.
The leader of the crisis-hit Indian Ocean nation met Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Japan on the sidelines of a state funeral for Shinzo Abe_ the former prime minister assassinated in July_ reports Reuters.
The free trade pact signed in January 2018 was suspended because of objections from Sri Lankan opposition parties and professional bodies. Sri Lanka proposed more than a dozen amendments in May 2021 but talks have largely stalled.
The Island nation of 22 million people is suffering its worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948 and looking for lifeline to combat the crisis.
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