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Minister of Plantation Industries, Lakshman Kiriella led a high powered tea delegation consisting of State and Private Sector officials to Moscow, Russia and Kiev, Ukraine recently.

The visit was necessitated due to the discriminative import tariff structure introduced by the Government of Russia and Ukraine on packeted tea and tea bags vis-a-vis bulk teas.

The authorities in Russia and Ukraine conveyed to the Sri Lanka delegation reasons for such wide disparity between bulk and pre-packed tea. Customs duty has been created to protect the local tea packaging industry which is important to generate employment.

As a counter proposal Minister Kiriella suggested that a Joint Committee with a few selected officials from Sri Lanka and Russia as well as Sri Lanka and Ukraine is constituted in the form of a Study Group to address all bilateral issues. The proposed Committee will study all problems encountered by Sri Lanka as well as Russia and Ukraine within the bilateral framework with particular emphasis on the tea trade. The suggested Study Group will be requested to forward recommendations within 90 days.

Minister Kiriella called upon his counterparts in Russia to avoid any further increases in the duty structure and the minimum duty component for tea until technical experts from both countries closely examine connected issues and find a permanent solution to benefit both countries.

The proposal was positively accommodated by the Russians.

In respect of Ukraine, Minister Kiriella quoting the Agreement of 1999 proposed a Joint Committee to identify products from Sri Lanka to Ukraine and vice versa which could be extended preferential tariff under a Special Trading Arrangement (STA). The time frame mutually agreed for finalising this proposal is 90 days.

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