Industrial parks to be set up in over 20,000 acres across the country within the next three years will boost Sri Lanka’s exports and enable the country to gain huge amounts of foreign exchange through industrial exports, State Minister for International Trade Sujeeva Senasinghe told guests at the 20th Annual General Meeting of the Exporters Association of Sri Lanka (EASL) on Friday. He said industrial parks will be set up across all provinces that will create a large number of jobs and boost the economy in provinces.
“Many tech entrepreneurs have expressed great interest in investing and relocating their businesses in Sri Lanka. A Thai investor said he has selected Sri Lanka to relocate his business as there is turmoil in Thailand,” the Minister said.
He said an industrial park will be set up in Kalutara to enable the Thai investor to relocate his enterprises in the country that will bring in a large amount of income to the country and provide employment to youth,” Senasinghe said.
The Minister said the GSP Plus, the lifting of the fishery export ban and the new trade agreements to be signed with China, Singapore, India and the EU will provide a market of over four billion population that help the country to gain immensely in foreign exchange.
“Sri Lanka needs only a small pie of the vast global business which is about USD 7 or 8 billion that will help us be ahead of many regional countries,” the minister said.
However, he noted that the country has failed to produce new products other than the conventional exports of tea, rubber, spices and garments. Sri Lanka needs to move away from low-end manufacturing to high-end industrial products as many South East Asian countries that have moved leaps and bounds in exports of electronic and engineering products.
“The legacy of Upali Wijewardene, a pioneering entrepreneur who manufactured the first Fiat car should spur us on to take the country to the next level of development,” Senasinghe said. Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy who made the keynote address, said Foreign Direct Investments and exports are two key elements to drive economic growth as Singapore has excelled to be a giant in the Asian region.
He noted that the country cannot be borrowing to support development projects and have huge debts to repay. There has to be an export led growth model making use of the location of the country, its excellent relations with the countries in the region and the trade agreements to come on stream.
“An economic growth rate of over six percent cannot be achieved with low exports, FDI and low per capita income. The government has undertaken many stapes with macro economic policy, fiscal consolidation, addressing the budget deficit and creating a forward looking interest rate regime,” Dr. Coomaraswamy said.