New Delhi – The India-Sri Lanka free trade agreement (FTA), signed way back in 1998,“needs to be upgraded”, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya said on Friday.

In her address at NDTV World Summit here, she also said that as the island nation rebuilds, its partnership with India has“evolved into a forward-looking, multi-faceted collaboration in every conceivable area”.

Amarasuriya is on a three-day visit to India from October 16-18, her first official tour to the country after assuming office as the prime minister.

On Thursday, she visited Hindu College here, where she received a red-carpet welcome, as the college described her return to the campus as a“remarkable homecoming” of a“distinguished alumna”.

While addressing the summit, she recalled her arrival in Delhi in the early 1990s as a young Sri Lankan student, pursuing a Bachelor's degree in sociology.

“Delhi.. a city that holds some of my formative memories. Standing here in Delhi, feels like coming full circle. Three decades ago, in the early 1990s, I was a student at Hindu College, a young student from Sri Lanka, navigating a world in flux. Delhi was a city of ideas then, as it is now, reflecting the enduring spirit of India through the centuries,” she said.

It was a period of change and economic reforms.“For many of us students, it was our first encounter with the concept of risk, in life, in economics, in politics and in identity”.

And, returning now, several decades later,“I see an India transformed, a confident, vibrant nation of 1.4 billion people charting its own path,” Amarasuriya said.

India today stands among the fastest-growing major economies in the world. Its digital revolution, green transition and infrastructure initiatives are laying the foundation of Viksit Bharat, a vision of a developed and prosperous nation, she said.

“India's journey offers valuable lessons for developing countries, including my own,” the Lankan PM said.

The members in the audience included many word leaders from different fields.

“Today as Sri Lanka rebuilds, our partnership with India has evolved into a forward-looking, multi-faceted collaboration in every conceivable area, from development cooperation, training and capacity building, connectivity, including grid connectivity, energy security, digitalisation, education and technology, trade and investment, defence, tourism, culture and importantly people-to-people connectivity,” she said.

Steering change in uncertain times requires courage to collaborate, the humility to learn and turning solidarity into shared strengths, Amarasuriya asserted.

She also spoke of the India-Sri Lanka free trade agreement signed in 1998.

“Of course, the India-Sri Lanka free trade agreement (FTA), first for both our countries, signed way back in 1998, needs to be upgraded,” the Lankan PM said.

It will be mutually beneficial to explore how Sri Lanka can integrate more fully into India's manufacturing and service sectors' value chain, she said.

The theme of this summit, 'Risk, Resolve, Renewal', reflects the reality of the current era, the Lankan leader said.

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