Recent studies has shown that 44% of Sri Lanka’s exports are concentrated in just three markets USA, UK and India and confined to a few products and these trends must be reversed, said Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama.
So far, Sri Lanka has seen limited success in exporting to key Asian markets like Japan, China, South Korea and Hong Kong. These four countries are among the top 10 markets for exports in the world, accounting for 20% of the global export market, but accounted for only 6% of Sri Lanka’s exports.
“It is high time we made stronger inroads in Asian markets,” he said speaking at the EDB Presidential Export Awards ceremony yesterday. “In terms of product composition, the study also showed that Sri Lanka’s two leading exports are not among the top 10 product categories traded in the world. In most other Asian countries the two key export products fall within at least one of the top five products traded in the world.”
“Export development is a top priority of this government and our goal for the next three years is to increase exports to US$20 billion by 2020. In the last three years, exports were stagnant in dollar terms and for over 15 years, exports have played a smaller and smaller part of the economy. From a share of 33% of GDP in 2000, exports declined to 12.7% of GDP in 2016. We cannot afford for this to continue. We have begun to tackle these, proactively and systematically.”
National Export Strategy, being driven by the Export Development Board with technical support from the International Trade Centre in one initiative to reverse this. “In addition to the National Export Strategy, we have embarked on broader trade policy reforms. Last month, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the adoption of a new National Trade Policy. We are also conscious of unfair trade practices that our Sri Lankan businesses have to contend with, and this is why we have formulated a robust anti-dumping legislation, which will hopefully be passed within this year.”
There are a host of other important measures the Government is taking to expand market access for local exporters. “The gains from all these initiatives won’t be seen overnight and won’t come automatically. We have to work together and work hard, to reap the benefits of these new agreements and new opportunities.”
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