'Violence has not affected SL trade, tourism'

Panaji, Apr 18: Sri Lankan Minister of Export Development and International Trade Prof G L Pieres has refuted reports that increasing LTTE violence has adversely affected Sri Lanka's trade with other nations.

''In fact, the bilateral trade with India has improved by 10 per cent in volume during January and February this year compared to the corresponding period last year,'' Prof Pieres said while addressing the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) on ''Sri Lankan Free Trade Agreement and the Proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)'' here today.

Prof Pieres said the LTTE violence was confined to only certain pockets and had not affected the tourism industry.

''Sri Lanka has witnessed a 6.5 per cent economic growth in the last fiscal,'' he pointed out.

While hoping that the proposed CEPA betweeen India and Sri Lanka would be formalised soon, he said it would ''facilitate integration of the two economies to an unprecedented level by creating ample opportunities for the people''.

Replying to a question, he said bilateral and multi-lateral treaties like the CEPA and SAFTA should be complimentary for mutual benefit.

Sri Lanka, he said, wanted to have more linkages with focus on drawing a roadmap for Information Technology sector through CEPA, taking advantage of India's strength in the field.

''Politicians open the door for bilateral relations, and it is for the business and the industry to explore vistas for development by forging durable relations,'' he said.

Stating that there was tremendous scope for bilateral trade in value addition and branding in the modern context, he said. The trade could be further promoted by identifying the roadblocks such as tariff barriers which could be reduced under the SAFTA multilateral initiatives.

Goa and Sri Lanka could evolve ''attractive cultural heritage packages'' for offering to the European Union with no tariff barriers, Prof Pieres suggested while informing that he had already invited Goa Governor S C Jamir and Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane to Sri Lanka to explore such possibilities.

Prof Pieres said the current level of USD 2 billion bilateral trade with India would further increase in due course. The Sri Lankan Minister said it would push upto 35 per cent of value added products to EU if India took advantage of the agreement Sri Lanka had with the EU partners.

He recalled how Sri Lanka had benefitted by focussing attention on value addition of tea, rubber and coconut products.

In this regard, he cited the example of Sri Lankan tyre manufacturer LoadStar which had 20 per cent world market share in producing tyres for heavy vehicles.

He also cited the example of ''Branding'' which was the largest manufcturer of sophisticated fabrics, exported to EU. It had invested in the Visakhapatnam-based apparel park, providing employment to over 40,000 rural women.

UNI