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Sri Lanka will soon sign Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Pakistan, Bangladesh and United States, Chairman, of Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI), Asoka De Z Gunasekera said.

He said that this would enable Sri Lankan industrialists to gain tremendous advantages by way of tax benefits and duty free while the importer and the exporter in these countries will be at an advantage.

Mr. Gunasekera said that the need of the hour for Sri Lanka's economy is a big leap and free trade agreements of this nature will contribute towards the economy in a big way.

He said that some locally manufactured products lack in quality and they find it hard to compete in the world market. "Another problem the local producers are having is the dumping of cheeper products specially from China. Therefore, in some products Sri Lanka has gone backwards," he said.

He said that the CNCI has understood this problem and is in the process of introducing a series of steps to improve the quality of locally manufactured products. He said that this problem of cheeper products flooding the local market has been brought to the notice of the Government which had promised to look into it area. "A quota system is likely to come into force with regard to these imports."

Vice Chairman, CNCI, Sunil Liyanage, said that while Sri Lankan manufacturers are going backwards in some areas the 'Made in Sri Lanka' tag is gaining more recognition in some products such as Usha fans, ACL cables, Clipsal and many ceramic products.

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