Archives

Harassing of Indian customs tops the list of concerns by Sri Lanka when the two countries meet this week in New Delhi to iron out certain constraints in the Indo-Lanka FTA.

Tariff and non tariff barriers to trade in the Indian market including state imposed taxes and difficult customs procedures will also be raised by the Sri Lankan representatives at the second senior officials meeting scheduled on July 18 and 19.

The Sri Lankan delegation lead by the Secretary of the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Ministry Harsha Wickremesinghe will specially focus on the customs harassments to our exports at different Indian entry ports as officials have been kept in the dark of trade preferences granted to Sri Lankan exports over the general tariff rates. Sri Lanka has received several complaints in this regard from several front line exporters to India over the past few months.

Commerce Minister Ravi Karunanayake recently emphasised this would seriously affect the long term bilateral plans to promote Sri Lanka as the logistics hub for India as the bilateral trade flow would not be enhanced, as along as these harassments prevail. One of the main issues on the Sri Lankan agenda is eliminating the 20% sales tax on imported goods in Tamilnadu state, which is the biggest market for our products as it is only 12% on local made goods.

A host of Sri Lankan exports to India including furniture, processed meet, confectioneries and rubber products are affected by this tax.

Sri Lanka is also expecting to negotiate with the Indian Bureau of Standards to work out an MoU with the Sri Lanka Standards Institute on the recognition of bilateral quarantine standards.

www.crescat.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries

Produced by Lake House
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager