Sri Lanka thanks US for trade and development support

Sri Lanka this week thanked the US for the supporting initiatives on trade and development extended in the country’s new economic upswing.

The outgoing Head of the Economic Section of the US Embassy in Colombo Ed Heartney during his courtesy call on Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen on Wednesday

“We thank the US for its continued support, including trade and development assistance. The US has become the top-most buyer of Sri Lanka’s apparels which is another sign of continuously improving trade cooperation between both countries,” said Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen during a meeting with the outgoing Head of the Economic Section of the US Embassy Ed Heartney after a three year stint in Colombo.

During the past 50 years, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided assistance (not loans) to Sri Lanka to the value of US$ 2 billion in areas, among others, education, tsunami reconstruction, demining and public private partnership ventures. Around 4,000 Sri Lankan students are currently pursuing their studies in the US. According to the Department of Commerce of Sri Lanka, apparel products remain the largest single Sri Lankan export item to the US. Of Sri Lanka’s US$ 4,039 million apparel exports to the world in 2011, 39.36% ($ 1,590 million) was directly absorbed by the US market, rising from $ 1,297.5 million in 2009.

Another Sri Lankan product category line in demand in the US market is the ‘rubber-based product’ category. Sri Lanka’s exports to the United States were worth approximately $2 billion demonstrating a growth of 20% over 2010.   

Minister Bathiudeen said, “Thanks to the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, we have witnessed 8.3% GDP growth in 2011, in which the apparel sector contributed strongly. US has become the leading single country buyer of our apparels. I commend the US for showing high interest in Expo 2012 mega show by sending a strong US trade delegation led by Michael J. Delaney, Assistant US Trade Representative of South and Central Asia.”  

Commending Heartney’s efforts in Sri Lanka, Minister Bathiudeen said, “I am impressed by your energy and your work during your Colombo posting. We thank you for the valuable contributions you made towards strengthening our bilateral trade cooperation during your stay here. Your work to promote Sri Lanka in US has also been positively appreciated by us and we have seen rising bilateral trade. More importantly, your efforts to successfully stage the TIFA talks in March merit our commendation.”

The tenth session of United States-Sri Lanka Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) successfully concluded on 27 March at Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo marking the 10th session of the US-Sri Lanka TIFA Council and the US team being led by Michael J. Delaney, Assistant US Trade Representative of South and Central Asia. The TIFA, signed in 2002 has been the primary forum for bilateral trade and investment discussions between the two countries.

In March 2012 session, senior officials from the Governments of both countries met to continue their trade dialogue and evaluate progress under the TIFA and discussed a wide range of trade and investment issues including market access, the US-GSP, labour, trade promotion efforts, intellectual property rights, agriculture, promoting women entrepreneurs and sector – specific investment challenges.  

Heartney said, “TIFA was a very professional exercise involving a gamut of issues, reaching agreement on a number of them. Both countries made lots of progress in post-TIFA too. In fact, our bilateral dialogue itself is wide-ranging involving Minister Bathiudeen’s Ministry, its Department of Commerce, the US Embassy, and also US Department of Commerce. As for the US-GSP trade concession review, I am happy to stress that it is progressing well. We discussed GSP cooperation also during the March TIFA sessions and are now working together very well in this regard.”

Revealing his view of future economic prospects in Sri Lanka, Heartney said, “I believe there is a lot of strength in the country in going forward to become a hub. In the new upswing, I see opportunities across the board but specifically in tourism and outsourcing, helped by Sri Lanka’s strategic location.”

When it comes to SL-US trade, the balance of trade has always been in favour of Sri Lanka during the past several years, while total trade levels from 2003 to 2010 remained somewhat unchanged. In 2003, the total trade was $ 1,962.20 million and in 2010 climbed to $ 1,933.08 million.

From the US Department of Commerce perspective, Sri Lanka is currently the 80th largest goods trading partner of the United States with $2.4 billion in two-way goods trade in 2011.  Sri Lanka was the United States’ 114th largest goods export market in 2011. US goods exports to Sri Lanka were $307 million, up 71.7% ($128 million) from 2010.