This paper evaluates Sri Lanka’s readiness to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), with a focus on services trade. Services exports have grown moderately since 2015, led by travel, transport, and business process outsourcing, while imports have contracted, resulting in a services trade surplus by 2023. Revealed comparative advantage analysis shows clear strengths in travel, transport, construction, and other business services, but persistent weaknesses in ICT, financial, and intellectual property services. Sri Lanka’s service economy shows areas of strength that are well aligned with regional demand. However, a range of regulatory, infrastructural, and institutional barriers currently limit trade and investment flows. RCEP offers a framework for addressing these constraints, unlocking access to major Asian markets, and attracting the capital and expertise needed to elevate Sri Lanka’s service sectors. Realizing these benefits will require deliberate policy reform, sustained investment in trade readiness, and careful negotiation of liberalization commitments.