Exporters call for ‘strong political will and vision’ to achieve full potential
Exporters blamed the absence of a “strong and positive political will and vision,” as the reason behind Sri Lanka’s failure to achieve full export potential, and urged the government to focus on providing greater transparency, accountability and speedy implementation of policy initiatives.
“Sri Lanka’s export fraternities’ ambition of working with a government, that was focused on bringing about good governance and ushering in a new era for Sri Lankan exports, has not panned out as we hoped,” Exporters Association of Sri Lanka (EASL) Chairman Harin De Silva told the business sessions of EASL’S 21st Annual General Meeting held in Colombo last Friday.
“Time and again the EASL has stressed the importance and need for a strong and positive political will and vision to drive the export sector of our country in order to reach its full potential. But sadly it seems that our pleas have gone in vain,” he added.
De Silva drew his attention to the prevailing political uncertainty in the country, pointing out that it has put many things on hold.
“The country as a whole seems to be in a political limbo with a wait and see mindset.
“Communal unrest seems to be making its presence felt yet again with the communal violence that erupted in Teldeniya in March this year. Daily demonstrations on the streets of Colombo continue to cause great inconveniences to the daily life of the people and businesses,” he emphasized.
Speaking on transparency, De Silva placed emphasis on getting more export sector stakeholders involved in the ongoing FTA negotiations, by obtaining their feedback on a timely manner. He proposed the government to set up a structured mechanism with a robust communication strategy to achieve this objective.
With regard to research and development (R&D), he called the government to expedite the implementation of converting the current Coordinating Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation (COSTI) to National Science Technology and Innovation Coordinating Authority (NASTICA), where the focus will be on commercial ventures.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal in this regard early last year, which was also included in last year’s budget proposals. However, there was no significant progress made in the implementation of the proposal to-date.
“The implementation of this strategy needs to be dynamic with strong instuitional framework for effective public and private sector coordination. The success of the strategy will be the re-orientation of the present mindset on research institutions,” De Silva stressed.
Meanwhile, presenting the third version of EASL’S recommendation to the National Export Strategy (NES), he also proposed the government to introduce a scheme similar to the Export Development and Investment Scheme (EDISS) that was introduced in the 1980s, taking into account the current developments and the tax framework.
“This is for the promotion and development of both traditional and non-traditional exports with a focus on both value addition and service-oriented exports.”
Speaking on removing the current constraints on exporters in terms of market access, he made suggestions to develop an export promotional portal leveraging on the existing institutional setup of the government and private sector to provide up-to-date market information on the opportunities available in strategic export markets for Sri Lanka.
Furthermore, De Silva pointed out that the country branding initiatives should be coordinated and complimented with a supportive trade finance regime.
Speaking of the investment climate, De Silva stressed that the digitisation of the country’s land bank remains crucial for both local and foreign investors, to make sound investment decisions.