Sri Lanka will be having several bilateral trade agreements to promote trade, said Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama.
“We are close to concluding two more bilateral trade agreements, an Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement with India and a Comprehensive FTA with China. This will be followed by FTAs with Thailand, Bangladesh and Malaysia.”
“As you know, we also recently regained the GSP Plus trade concessions to the European Union, which gives duty free access on over 6,200 tariff lines.”
He was addressing a business delegation of the German Industry and Commerce in Colombo last week.
“These initiatives are being complemented by comprehensive trade policy reforms. In the last budget, protectionist para-tariffs on over 1,200 items were removed, with the rest slated for removal this year and next year. To leverage on our location and to expand market access, we are expanding our trade and investment links with a diverse set of countries US, EU, India, China, Singapore, Japan; and we also are signing a number of trade agreements.
“The Minister said that Germany was more resilient than other Euro area economies, and bounced back quicker.” Because you undertook tricky but important reforms to the business climate, to labour laws, etc., much earlier on”.
He said that sets the foundations for a strong economy. “Even now, we see how Germany’s economic growth has been an anchor for the economic recovery of the whole European region.”
“Our Government has taken numerous initiatives to stabilise and re-orient the economy, from a growth model that was heavily dependent on debt-fuelled public spending, to one driven more by the private sector, trade, and FDI. We have taken many measures to build strength and resilience in our economy.”
The minister said on monetary policy, the Central Bank has moved towards a market-determined exchange rate regime and is proactively keeping inflation in check.
“We just passed a new Active Liability Management Act, to ensure national debt is cleverly and credibly managed. And last year we passed a new Foreign Exchange Act that brings very contemporary and business-friendly approach to managing foreign exchange.
Across the government, we are focusing on reform initiatives to catalyse growth and create better jobs for our people.”
He said that the government was committed in improving the ease of doing business and by mid this year, the time taken to register a new business will reduce from six days to just one day. Finding land and registering property will be halved from 51 days to 26 days, and the procedures reduced from nine steps to 2 steps, he said.
“We are also introducing an ‘Electronic Single Window’ that will link together dozens of state agencies dealing with international trade. Through the new Colombo International Financial City and Port City projects, we are creating a unique business climate that is globally-competitive and will provide an attractive operating environment like no other in the South Asian region,” he said.