The EU is looking at providing more assistance towards developing trade ties between the EU and Sri Lanka. “While EU should and will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to those populations in Sri Lanka affected by the war or natural calamities, as Sri Lanka moves towards becoming a full fledged middle income country, in my opinion the relations between Sri Lanka and the EU has to move to another level,” said the head of the EC (European Commission) delegation in Sri Lanka, Bernard Savage, at the EU-Sri Lanka business summit this week.
“From support to development cooperation activities over the years, we need to move towards re-focussing our cooperation and support to issues more related to trade policy, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS), Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and other Market Access issues,” he said.
The EC office said EU trade support will be provided through technical assistance programmes to help local businesses meet EU sanitary and safety standards, and to obtain certifications. These certifications are particularly important for Sri Lankan food and agricultural exporters.
The EU is now Sri Lanka’s biggest trading partner accounting for about 20% of Sri Lanka’s total trade with the rest of the world. This is about 31% of total Sri Lankan exports and about 12% of total imports.
The Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, said EU investments in Sri Lanka now amount to over 1 billion dollars. These investments provide jobs for about 73,000 people in 269 factories and enterprises that are fully owned or joint ventures with Sri Lankan companies.
The government is now inviting European companies to participate in its eastern rehabilitation programme. The government is hoping to develop the North and the East on an eco-friendly model and is promoting organic agriculture and alternative energies, in addition to tourism and infrastructure, in the long term.
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