Setting the direction for export growth:

Export strategy next year

Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

The Export Development Board will introduce a National Export Development Strategy, a 10-year plan, aimed at strong growth and sustained development of the export sector, early next year.

Exporters Association of Sri Lanka Chairperson Nirmali Samaratunga told the Daily News Business the process of strategy formulation was a public-private partnership.

The strategy is being formulated with the input and interaction of the private sector represented by the Export Cluster of the National Council for Economic Development of the Finance Ministry. This is co-chaired by the Exporters Association with the Export Development and International Trade Ministry.

Discussions have also included the participation of a broad cross-section of the sector stakeholders.

She said this was a very timely and essential development, and welcomed the initiative of the Export Development Board, as there is a need for a National Policy which would set the direction for export growth, and facilitate optimum benefit of the global market opportunities.

The country is poised for exponential growth with prospects of long-term sustainable progress and development, with ending the conflict.

We have been presented with a window of opportunity and need to seize it and make the most of it , formulating a vision , backed by a comprehensive and focused strategy which looks beyond the normal growth momentum. It aims at a quantum leap in the export sector performance over the next 10 years, not just targeting USD 20 billion but revenues in excess of this, she said.

Emphasizing the vital role played by exports towards economic development, she said the Sri Lankan economy was essentially a trade dependent one and therefore vulnerable to the international economy and subject to external shocks. Being a small economy with a limited domestic market, as well as a limited raw material base, this external dependence is inevitable.

The country would need to depend on international markets for its products. As compared to a domestic market of nearly 20 million population, the global market was over a 6.7 billion. It presents unlimited opportunities for growth and diversification of exports. It is an undeniable fact that exports is a priority sector, being the major foreign exchange earner, registering over USD 8 billion in revenue last year.

Samaratunga said a growth in exports would also generate an increase in employment whilst achieving greater social equity and bridging the urban rural divide.