‘Modern CW can be a force in global trade’

Indunil Hewage

The modern Commonwealth (CW) can be a real force in the global trade and working with CW can be beneficial to Sri Lanka’s socio economic development. We have the ability to create unique credibility to supplement the global trade activities and are committed to develop Sri Lanka’s economy by sharing expertise and resources. Edwin Laurent, Head and Advisor of International Trade and Regional Cooperation, Commonwealth Secretariat said at a national symposium held at Colombo yesterday under the theme “EU trade and the way forward for Sri Lanka”.

“In the today’s global context, making foreign trade has become highly complicated and challenging task; small exports have to face formidable difficulties when it comes to obtaining required certifications that are needed to link with the global trade. The world is in a deep and worrying recession and the potential and the importance of the intra regional trade is highly emphasized by the economists as the outlook for the global economy is quite gloomy,” Laurent said.

Rashmi Banga, a representative from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said that the progress made on overall co-operative efforts especially regional economic corporation among the South Asian countries has been affected due to bi-lateral political differences. South Asian countries have more restrictive trade regimes with their regional partners than the rest of the world. Due to lack of political will, the region also suffers from relatively poor trade facilitation and high transaction costs associated with cross border exchange and all this has serious implications for promoting regional supply chains.

Forty (40) % of total exports of Sri Lanka go to EU and it is the second largest buyer of local garments after USA.