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| Tuesday, 10 June 2003 |
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FTAs with USA, European Union in the offing - Ravi Karunanayake by Shirajiv Sirimane The Government will sign an FTA with a United States of America in 1995 and the European Union too has agreed to sign an FTA with Sri Lanka in the near future, said Minister of Trade and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Ravi Karunanayake. The Minister who inaugurated the Garmentech 2003 Sri Lanka at the Exhibition and Convention Hall on Friday said that the FTA was one of the solutions to end the Garment quota system in the year 2005. "This will enable garment industry persons to find new buyers", he said. The Minister said that when the Quota system ceases garment factories will have to work very fast and the turnover time would be very important. "This is why India is very important to Sri Lanka. India manufactures high quality fabrics and their garment machinery is world class. As India is close to Sri Lanka, local manufacturers must make use of them and this exhibition would be the ideal venue to meet them." He said that the ties between India and Sri Lanka were further strengthened with the change of Government and there were exports from India to Sri Lanka to the value of Rs. 74 billion last year. The Minister said that in contrast Sri Lanka's exports to India which were at Rs. 5 billion in 2001 increased to Rs. 16.5 billion last year. He appealed to Indian companies to have more links with Sri Lanka as Sri Lanka's bureaucracy is zero compared to India. Zak Trade Fairs and Exhibition (Pvt) Ltd, Managing Director S. Zakir Ahmed said that they have been conducting many exhibitions all over the world and this is the first time that they are in Sri Lanka. "Sri Lanka is a major player in the world's garment industry and this is why we are in Sri Lanka."He said that this event would be ideal to find future partners for local companies to enhance their trade. ZAK Garmentech 2003 Sri Lanka is organised by Chennai based ZAK Trade Faris and Exhibitions (Pvt) Ltd., one of the largest exhibition organisers in India, having organised over 120 exhibitions across 15 industries in India, Singapore, Bangladesh, Dubai and USA besides all parts of the country. An official of the Consumer Testing Service India which has been in Sri Lanka for over 20 years said that working conditions in Sri Lanka for garment industry workers are of a high standard. However she noted that companies should pay more attention to the environment. "Some local garment companies have their waste just flowing and workers fall ill." She also said that only a few males have got involved in the garment sector in Sri Lanka and this is something new to Sri Lanka. "There are more males involved in the industry in other countries." |
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