'SL must outperform regional competitors'

Indunil Hewage

Sri Lanka is still not economically integrated into any bigger regional setting; as a result, Sri Lanka is still struggling to increase its exports volume in the global trade, said Thomas Litscher, Switzerland Ambassador to Sri Lanka.

He made these sentiments addressing a seminar organized by the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka on 'Bilateral Trade between Sri Lanka and Switzerland'. "Unless Sri Lanka really overcomes the disadvantage of being a very small market; it will remain difficult to create a substantial interest among Swiss business operators both in Sri Lanka and abroad on Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka must clearly outperform regional competitors like Thailand and Vietnam and government authorities need to take appropriate measures to enhance economic cooperation with big regional players. We are currently making big efforts to get into free trade agreements with Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar which are relatively bigger than Sri Lanka," Litscher said.

However, several big Swiss companies have established their presence in Sri Lanka following the end of the 30-year long war and they are ready to better reap the post war opportunities in the country.

Switzerland's imports from Sri Lanka consist primarily of machines,equipment and electronics, textiles and shoes, as well as precious metals, gemstones and semi-precious stones. Switzerland also exports mainly machinery, equipment, electronics and chemicals.