Preferential access to US urged for Lankan garments
US: Export Development and International Trade Minister Prof. G.L.
Peiris, has urged preferential access for apparel products from Sri
Lanka into the markets of the United States.
In an address to a combined gathering of the United States Chamber of
Commerce and the American Apparel and Footwear Association, Prof. Peiris
drew attention to the achievements of the apparel industry in Sri Lanka
during the last few years.
He said that American purchases of apparel products accounted for
almost 45 per cent of Sri Lanka’s exports, while the industry accounted
for 8 per cent of the country’s GDP.
He pointed out that, beginning from modest origins with inadequate
facilities and infrastructure, the Sri Lankan apparel industry is today
catering for the most sophisticated markets of the United States, and is
a supplier for such prestigious brands as Speedo, Abercrombie and Fitch,
Ann Taylor, Victoria’s Secret and Next.
The impressive achievements in design, marketing and product
development, he said, had been accompanied by a deep commitment to
social accountability and preservation of the environment.
Sri Lanka, he said, has no sweat shops and consistently eschewed
forced labour, child labour and oppressive working hours. Competition
with integrity, epitomised by the concept of ‘Garments Without Guilt’,
was the hallmark of the Sri Lankan apparel sector.
He said that Sri Lanka is particularly proud that Marks and Spencer
have chosen the country as the site for the world’s first green apparel
plant, the construction of which has already commenced.
Minister Peiris urged premier American apparel associations to use
their good offices to prevail on members of Congress to support
concessions for Sri Lanka.
Members of the Joint Apparel Association Federation (JAAF) led by
Ajith Dias, made an exhaustive presentation highlighting the spectacular
advances made by the Sri Lankan apparel sector.
At a series of meetings with the International Trade Administration
and the Office of Textile Import Administration of the United States
Department of Commerce, Minister Peiris said that 350,000 persons in Sri
Lanka depended for their livelihood directly on the apparel industry.
Almost a million people were indirectly dependant on it.
A political resolution of the ethnic conflict, he observed, required
a sufficient level of economic prosperity and wellbeing, and support by
the United States in this field is crucial today, he noted.
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