Apparel industry has strong links with US and EU

Over the years, the local apparel industry developed very strong and close links with not only their customers and suppliers but also with the policy makers of the country said, the Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association (SLAEA) Chairman Kumar Mirchandani at the AGM of the Association held at Cinnamon Grand Colombo yesterday.

"Our Association epitomises the value of public-private partnerships in everything we do. We work very closely with the public service in formulating policies and procedures that affect business in general and our industry in particular," he said.

The apparel industry has had very strong links with both the US and the EU for a very long time. Our exports to the EU have seen steady growth over the last several years, not in the least due to GSP and GSP+. The Government of Sri Lanka has now officially responded to the Commission report and I trust that this will bring about further positive engagement on GSP+, he said.

"Our Exports to the US have seen a decline and we as an industry, have to make serious efforts if we are to reverse this trend. In fact, our industry representatives - known as Sri Lanka Apparel - are in New York right now attending the Women's Wear Daily CEO's Summit attended by all the big US Brands and Retailers - we are actually a principal sponsor of one of the big events - re-introducing our capabilities and our stance on Garments without Guilt to the US," he said.

Speaking on the EDRS scheme he said, "This is an excellent scheme and we thank the authorities for putting this scheme into place. I appeal to the authorities to ensure that the qualified applicants for the first and second quarters of 2009 get paid in full with no further delays and that the scheme continues to the end of 2009 as announced previously".