Sri Lankan exporters should not be worried about the global competition as the island’s export community has already made a huge positive impact in the global scene by successfully entering into ‘niche’ segments and markets.
Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade, Malik Samarawickrama in a recent statement said, anyone who says Sri Lankan manufactures should be careful before opening up because the country may not be able to compete, is doing a huge injustice to the exporters who have successfully captured some of the leading international markets for their products.
“Why should Sri Lankans be scared of competing with the world?”, he asked.
“Some of our exporters have done extremely well. Our rubber tyres are used in the world’s top aircraft; our surgical gloves are used by the world’s best surgeons; our electronic sensors are used in the world’s top car brands; our apparels are worn by the world’s top athletes and major brands are produced in Sri Lanka and our IT software is used by the world’s leading stock markets,” he said
Minister Samarawickrama added, “We can compete. Our industries are already showing how they’ve capitalized on the regaining of GSP plus.”
In 2017, Sri Lanka had the highest ever export earnings of 15.1billion dollars and this year it may further rise to 17.4 billion dollars. 2017 was also a record year for foreign investment recording US$ 1.9 billion and in 2018 this may rise to around US$ 2.5 billion.
“However, these are extremely low figures in comparison to some of the other Asian countries,” he said.
Sri Lankan companies are progressively moving towards and practicing sustainable production concepts such as the organic produce, green production, as well as fair trade practices which are highly valued by the consumers world over and in particular in the EU.
“The ability to penetrate the EU market as a strong country respecting basic human rights, rule of law and good governance would send a strong signal to the international investor community which will facilitate the attraction of inward FDI,” he said.
“In addition, to GSP+ we have executed the Singapore FTA earlier this year, we are in the advance stages of negotiating a FTA with China, and expanding our current FTA with India through Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA).”
ETCA can increase Sri Lanka’s competitiveness in industrial exports and also increase the country’s supply capacity, to better utilise the market access to India. In addition, ETCA negotiations are addressing outstanding non-tariff barriers in the Indian market as well as many of the existing procedural barriers and delays in Indian ports of entry, particularly through mutual recognized agreements.
The minister said the Government was aware of the possible trade disruptions that can occur during the transition period and were looking at providing a trade adjustment package for local industrialists to upgrade machinery and introduce new technology. They can then be more competitive and serve the local market as well as export to the regional and global markets. (SS)
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