Sri Lanka government has announced setting up of a Joint Working Committee with representatives from 45 professional bodies to take their views on the proposed Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement with India. According to the officials of the Ministry of Development Strategy and International Trade, a group of professional met the Minister, Mr Malik Samarawickreme, who is negotiating the treaty on behalf of Sri Lanka, and expressed concerns over the treaty.<br/><br/>The Joint mechanism will have professionals including doctors, engineers, architects, IT professionals and nominees from business chambers. In a bid to attract more private investment from India, Sri Lanka government is keen to sign the ETCA this year. Sri Lanka is the biggest trade partner of India in the SAARC region with 3.2 billion dollar annual bilateral trade.<br/><br/>The Joint Commission meeting co-chaired by the Foreign Ministers in Colombo earlier this month had agreed to organize workshops in Colombo to educate people on the benefits of the treaty and to remove misgivings in certain sections.