Exporters shouldn’t fear competition
Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama asserted that Sri Lanka’s exporters should not be afraid of competition pointing out that some of Sri Lankan industries already have excelled in the global arena.
“Look at some of the exporters we have today – our medical 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 our IT software is used by world’s leading stock exchanges.
Anyone who says we should be careful before opening up because we might not be able to compete, is doing Sri Lanka a huge injustice. Why should we be scared of competing with the world?” the minister questioned.
Samarawickrama expressed his confidence on achieving US$ 17.2 billion from exports and US$2.5 billion worth of FDI inflows to the country this year.
Despite the country achieving its highest ever export figure of US $15.15 billion last year with US$1.9 billion in FDIS, Samarawickrama noted that these are extremely low figures in comparison with some of the other Asian countries.
“For example, annual exports in Singapore are US$480 billion, in Taiwan it is US $340 billion, in Thailand it is US$254 billion. Even Bangladesh, a country that was a much later entrant to the international trade game, is now at US$41 billion,” he pointed out.
He noted that a similar pattern also could be observed in terms of FDI inflows.
“What is very clear is that Sri Lanka has a long way to go, and if we concentrate only on our market of 21 million people we will never be able to achieve the rapid development that we need. Our only choice is to integrate with the world markets, and exports are a key pathway for that.”
Samarawickrama assured that every export sector will benefit from the implementation of NES, particularly from the four trade support functions.
“These are aimed at supporting all sectors, all size of firms and even those who aren’t yet exporters, but are aspiring to be. National quality infrastructure, trade information and promotion, logistics and innovation – these are aimed at helping all sectors and that is why they are included in the strategy,” he stressed.