GMOA 2nd Strike regarding FTA
GMOA 2nd Strike regarding FTA
Singapore FTA Descriptive Analysis conference
සිංගප්පූරු වෙළෙඳ ගිවිසුමට එළැඹි ආකාරය පිළිබඳ විමර්ශනය කිරීම සදහා ජනාධිපති කොමිෂන් සභාවක් පත්කරන්නැයි ජනාධිපතිවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වන බව වෘත්තිකයින්ගේ ජාතික පෙරමුණ පවසයි.
එහි සභාපති වෛද්‍ය අනුරුද්ධ පාදෙනිය මහතා අද (21) මල්වතු සහ අස්ගිරි මහ නා හිමිවරුන් බැහැදැකීමෙන් අනතුරුව මාධ්‍ය වෙත අදහස් දක්වමින් මේ බව ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.
වෘත්තිකයින්ගේ ජාතික පෙරමුණේ සාමාජිකයින් පිරිසක් අද පෙරවරුවේ අස්ගිරි මහා විහාරය වෙත පැමිණ අස්ගිරි පාර්ශවයේ මහනායක අතිපුජ්‍ය වරකාගොඩ ශ්‍රි ඥානරතන හිමියන් බැහැදුටුවේය.
අනතුරුව ඔවුන් මල්වතු පාර්ශ්වයේ මහනායක අතිපූජ්‍ය තිබ්බටුවවේ ශ්‍රි සුමංගල නාහිමියන්ද බැහැදුටුවා.
එහිදී අදහස් දැක්වූ වෘත්තිකයින්ගේ ජාතික පෙරමුණේ සභාපති විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය අනුරුද්ධ පාදෙණිය මහතා සඳහන් කළේ කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවත් නොමඟ යවමින් මෙය ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති බවයි.
President Maithripala Sirisena told the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) that he is ready to amend or even abolish the Free trade Agreement signed with Singapore if the GMOA proves the facts it presented, GMOA Secretary Dr. Haritha Aluthge said.
Addressing the media after meeting the President at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo yesterday, he said that the President appointed a committee to look into the issue of FTAs and the GMOA was given an opportunity to present facts, documents etc. to the committee.
The President's Economic Advisor Prof. Lalith Samarakoon will head the committee.
President Sirisena was very surprised to learn that secret discussions are being held in connection with three more FTA's with Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
President Sirisena asked the GMOA to submit everything (details, documents etc) in writing on the FTA signed with Singapore and other related issues.
“The GMOA will make its presentation in next few days as requested by the President,” Dr.Aluthge said.
“The President stated that he will not let anything that would be detrimental to the country's progress take place at any cost. The President also stated that he will give a decision on the issue in a few days, the GMOA Secretary added.
The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) will launch an island wide token strike on Thursday (May 17th) in protest against the recently signed Sri Lanka – Singapore Free Trade Agreement. The token strike is set to begin at 8am.
Dr. Haritha Aluthge, Secretary of the GMOA said that there is strong opposition against the FTA adding that they can no longer remain silent on this issue. Aluthge hopes that the President would intervene in this matter and provide a guarantee that the FTA will not come into effect until a robust national trade policy is in place.
The President tabling a memorandum at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on the 08th of January 2018 states the Sri Lanka Singapore Free Trade Agreement needs to be drafted and prepared as per the National Trade Policy to which the Cabinet agreed in July 2017. One month after the President issued this letter, the President of the National Chamber of Commerce Sujeewa Samaraweera in an interview to a newspaper had said Sri Lanka needs to expedite the process of preparing a National Trade Policy.
However, when looking back at the Cabinet decisions for the month of July 2017, it is clear no such decision was taken by the cabinet of ministers. Questions were raised in this regard during the cabinet media briefing and Minister (Dr.) Rajitha Senaratne, referring to the national trade policy, said that there is no such policy and that there are many other national policies that need to be prepared.
When pressed for an answer on whether the President had been misled to believe that a national trade policy was in place, Min. Senaratne responded in his signature fashion and evaded the question.
http://modsit.gov.lk/32-uncategorised/115-free-trade-agreement-between-the-democratic-socialist-republic-of-sri-lanka-and-the-republic-of-singapore.html
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