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| Wednesday, 4 June 2003 |
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Govt to launch National Export Development Plan in July By Ravi Ladduwahetty The Government will launch the much-awaited National Export Development Plan (NEDP) in July. Sri Lanka Export Development Board officials in consultation with experts from the International Trade Centre in Geneva, are putting the finishing touches to the sectoral plans at present and the Draft Action Plan will be ready end June which will be presented to the stakeholders such as the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Treasury, Board of Investment and other key line agencies, an EDB spokesman said. Twenty-five product sectors will come under the National Export Development Plan. These product sectors include Footwear, leather products, apparel, rubber and rubber based products, fruits and vegetables, horticultural products, fisheries and aquarium fish, electronics and software, printing, traditional medicinal products, spices, herbs, coconuts and coconut products, cashew, diamonds, jewellery, ceramics, toys and crafts, handlooms and wooden products The draft Action Plan will be discussed at a symposium end July and will be presented to the Ministers of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture and their respective Ministry Secretaries. Minister of Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy, Investment Promotion and Constitutional Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris will then present the Draft Action Plan to the Cabinet at that stage. The SLEDB along with the relevant organisations business associations and entrepreneurs from over 25 export sectors have been mapping out the future of Sri Lanka's exports for the past 10 days in Colombo, which International Trade Centre's Senior Advisor for the Private Sector Division of Trade Support Services Ian Sayers describes as an essentially a public-private sector initiative. Sayers said that the ultimate strategy was to take the individual sector level issues and identifying them which will be followed by the implementation of the strategies which have been spelt out by the plan. The methodology is to coordinate with the line organisations, departments, exporters and the other stakeholders and to compile the export strategies in consonace with the Regaining Sri Lanka Program and also the national export policies, he said. He said that a critical examination of the individual sectors have revealed the highest degrees of promise and a powerful tool which is being used by multinationals and will come in handy for Sri Lanka with the termination of the Multi Fibre Agreement by the year 2005. He said that the current strategy is aimed at the next five years and will be reviewed on a continuous basis. Responding to a question as to what type of revenue generation and growth prospects he sees for the next five years through the implementation of this plan, he said that it was too early to predict figures, but assured that there was substantial growth prospects for all sectors. He said that all the product sectors have been assessed in the context of a national development plan. He explained that the export of cashew may not yield the same results as apparel or tea, but this product sector would be playing a vital pivotal role in the alleviation of poverty at national level. Asked about the successes of the implementation of similar projects by the ITC in other countries based on similar case studies, he said that there was a study done in Kazakhstan where the walnuts sold at 12 US cents per kilo by the shell which was hitherto going waste, was exported now and marketed at US$ 8.40 per kilo. That country has some of the richest walnut forests in the world, he said. "What we are proposing for Sri Lanka is a similar impenetrable strategy which are sector specific," he said. |
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