Sri Lanka reaps benefits of trade facilitation through FTAs

Sri Lanka is now harnessing benefits of trade facilitation through multilateral, regional and bilateral trade agreements and comprehensive economic partners h i p s, De par tment of Commerce statistics showed.

Bilateral and multilateral trade agreements are beneficial in enhancing commercial relationships and facilitation of trade and investment by reducing/eliminating tariffs, import quotas, export restrictions and other trade barriers, a top official of the department said.

Sri Lanka is a signatory to a number of trade agreements including India- Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement ( ISFTA), Pakistan- Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement ( PSFTA), South Asian Free Trade Agreement ( SAFTA),

Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement ( APTA) and Sri Lanka Singapore Free Trade Agreement – (SLSFTA).

The trade deficit under these agreements has been favourable for the island nation as its exports to countries in South Asia and the Asia Pacific along with India and Pakistan surpassed imports from those countries in 2018.

The Free on Board ( FOB) value of Sri Lankan exports to those countries was Rs. 207.95 billion last year and the value of imports stood at Rs. 57.62 billion during the same period, the senior official said.

Sri Lanka has become the latest WTO member to ratify the new Trade Facilitation Agreement ( TFA) which provides many trading benefits to the country, he disclosed.

The TFA of the WTO aims at streamlining, harmonizing and modernising customs procedures. It contains a provision for expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit.

It also sets out measures for effective cooperation between the authorities involved in cross border trade.

The TFA will help Sri Lanka improve transparency, increase possibilities to participate in global value chains and reduce the scope for delays and circumvention, he added.

The National Single Window ( NSW) and the Trade Information Portal ( TIP) are the key priorities of the TFA in Sri Lanka.

In addition, several steps have been taken for trade facilitation in 2018 including facilitating business to consumer ( B2C) transactions on the e-commerce platform.

Bonding facilities have been granted for large scale pharmaceutical investments, dairy industry and solid waste management ventures, in which tax concessions were introduced on imported capital goods through bonding facilities during the construction period.

In addition, several steps have been taken for trade facilitation in 2018 including facilitating business to consumer (B2C) transactions on the e-commerce platform