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2019 tripartite agreement on ECT: Govt. scrambles to salvage MoC

06 Feb 2021

  • Govt. to renegotiate MoC with India, Japan 

  • Yet to inform India, Japan officially of ECT 

  • New comm. appointed for trilateral talks 

  • WCT instead of ECT the agenda   

  Sri Lanka will launch trilateral talks with India and Japan to officially renegotiate the tripartite agreement signed in 2019 to jointly develop the East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Colombo Port, based on the Cabinet decision taken last week to propose the development of the West Container Terminal (WCT) of the Colombo Port instead of the ECT as previously agreed, The Sunday Morning learnt.  It is learnt that the negotiations with the two other governments will commence immediately via a new Cabinet-appointed committee. It is further learnt that the members of the previous Cabinet-appointed committees would be included in this new committee as well.  Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Secretary to the Ministry of Ports and Shipping U.D.C. Jayalal said that the Government would soon renegotiate the existing memorandum of co-operation (MoC) with Japan and India in a way that it could be applied to the WCT instead.  However, in the meantime, Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Chairman (Retd.) Gen. Daya Ratnayake stressed that national-level negotiations would be held following the Cabinet decision taken to propose the WCT for joint development.  He said that the Cabinet’s decision to remove the ECT, and propose the WCT instead, was based on the reports submitted by the two Cabinet-appointed committees.  “We’re currently holding discussions regarding the development mechanism and the finances for the ECT,” he added.  However, as per highly informed sources, the Government has yet to communicate this decision to India or Japan.  Last week, the Cabinet approved a proposal made to develop the WCT via a private-public partnership (PPP) with India and Japan, by cancelling the decision made by the previous United National Front-led Government to call for investments for the development of the ECT.   

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