HANOI: Sri Lanka Chamber of Garment Exporters (SLCGE) and its partner Sri Lanka Apparel Sourcing Association (SLASA) expressed confidence of achieving this year’s government target of USD five billion in export revenue.
SLCGE Manager, Administration, Rohan de Silva told The Island Financial Review that the apparel sector is keen on signing a Free Trade Agreement with China and at least a Memorandum of Understanding with Japan.
He said that if the country is able to sign the agreement with China and tap the Japanese market, Sri Lanka could easily achieve the export target USD 8.5 B in 2020.
‘The Chinese market is at present catered to by Vietnam, and Sri Lanka has all the opportunities to penetrate the Chinese market though better quality products though the Chinese were not keen on garments, he said.
He also said that if they could get back the GSP Plus facility, their target would be much easier adding that even without GSP Plus, the sector achieved a target of USD 4.8 bn last November.
Another official said economic interests of the country should be foremost in the negotiations with the European Union.
“The loss of GSP Plus status was a big blow to the country’s economic development as the EU countries account for about 60 percent of the country’s export market. The American and European markets are the main buyers with the latter superseding the former in recent years,” he added.
He also said that the hope and expectation are that the Sri Lankan government would give certain assurances that would enable the EU to continue with the GSP Plus concession without compromising the conditions that are laid down by the EU.
May be guarantees of future compliance is the way forward for the Sri Lankan government. Economic interests of the country must be foremost in the country’s international relations and international diplomacy.
Speaking about the partnership, SLCGE president, Bandula Fernando said that the bi-annual programme which took place for the third time mainly focuses on facilitating their members to meet the key buyers operating in Sri Lanka and to prove their capability of producing high quality garments for export purpose.
He said big players in the trade have direct links with these buyers and even operate their own offices overseas. Thus, they are conducting this event to provide ‘our members this opportunity with minimum cost.’
The Chamber works mainly on behalf of the Small and Medium sector, for their rights and benefits.
