Indo-Sri Lanka FTA (ISFTA)
• Detailed Information - from the official website of The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI)
• More info from the official website of Department of Commerce (See under Information/Trade Agreements)
Pakistan-Sri Lanka FTA (PSFTA)
• Detailed Information - from the official website of The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI)
• More info from the official website of Department of Commerce (See under Information/Trade Agreements)
South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA)
• Detailed Information - from the official website of The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI)
• More info from the official website of Department of Commerce (See under Information/Trade Agreements)
Asia– Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) - Formerly the Bangkok Agreement
• Detailed Information - from the official website of The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI)
• More info from the official website of Department of Commerce (See under Information/Trade Agreements)
Showing posts with label APTA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label APTA. Show all posts
12 February 2012
24 October 2010
APTA May Offer Sri Lanka Concessions with a Supportive India
24th October 2010, www.thesundayleader.lk
The three giants in the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), namely Korea, India and China are prepared to recognize Sri Lanka (SL) as a Least Developed Country (LDC) and give it a near zero (90%) duty concessionary entry into their
markets on an average under certain tariff lines, a Commerce Department (CD) official said.
CD Director General Gomi Senadheera speaking at a seminar on Trade Agreements (TAs) on Monday said that currently the duty concession is around 20%.
However reaching a consensus under the 4th round of APTA talks which would make these concessions a reality has been delayed due to disagreements by India, but those disagreements are not with SL, he said.
SL exported about US$ 50 million worth of goods to APTA (formerly Bangkok Agreement) member countries last year. China topped the list with US$ 29 million, followed by India (US$ 13 million) and Korea (US$ six million).
Coir products were the island’s biggest export with US$ 24.5 million followed by natural rubber (US$ 14.5 million). Other exports under APTA included rubber products, fish “products,” floor tiles and tea.
APTA is the biggest trade agreement after the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ILFTA), said Senadheera.
The objective of APTA is to cover at least 40% of tariff lines.
But studies have shown that Sri Lanka has under-utilised APTA concessions by 50%, he said.
CD plans to educate exporters about APTA.
Senadheera’s talk however didn’t cover the EU and US markets, SL’s number 1 and number 2 export destinations respectively.
Exports to the EU have been hit due to the withdrawal of the GSP + concession, while certain exports to the USA are under threat because of the labour GSP issue.
“There are a large number of exports made to the USA which could enjoy the GSP duty free concession, resulting in the saving of millions of dollars in duties,” said Senadheera. This ignorance is either on the part of the exporter, or of the importer, he said.
A number of these concessions are tied to the rules of origin criterion, ie the requirement of a minimum local value addition. For instance under APTA, the local value addition should be a minimum of 45%.
Senadhira said that GSP are non-reciprocal concessions/TAs. Other TAs touched upon by Senadhira in his speech were the ILFTA, Sri Lanka-Pakistan FTA (smoked rubber sheets topped the list last year with US$ 10 million worth of exports under this agreement), South Asian Preferential Trade Arrangement (under which arrangement SL made US$ 1.77 million worth of exports last year) and South Asian FTA (some US$ 608,624 worth of exports to India and Pakistan last year, including US$ 579,420 worth of ekel broom sticks to Pakistan). The seminar was organized by the Spices and Allied Products,’ Producers’ and Traders’ Association. (See also page 37)
Ravi Ratnayake, Director, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Trade and Investment Division says intra-regional trade can play a large role in reducing poverty, but barriers to trade among the region’s developing countries remain relatively high. “By simply eliminating all tariffs among each other, the region can reduce the number of people living on less than $1 a day by 43 million.” (Source: ESCAP)
The three giants in the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), namely Korea, India and China are prepared to recognize Sri Lanka (SL) as a Least Developed Country (LDC) and give it a near zero (90%) duty concessionary entry into their markets on an average under certain tariff lines, a Commerce Department (CD) official said.
CD Director General Gomi Senadheera speaking at a seminar on Trade Agreements (TAs) on Monday said that currently the duty concession is around 20%.
Related Info:
Sri Lankan Exporters Should Make Use of Free Trade Deals
The three giants in the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), namely Korea, India and China are prepared to recognize Sri Lanka (SL) as a Least Developed Country (LDC) and give it a near zero (90%) duty concessionary entry into their
markets on an average under certain tariff lines, a Commerce Department (CD) official said.CD Director General Gomi Senadheera speaking at a seminar on Trade Agreements (TAs) on Monday said that currently the duty concession is around 20%.
However reaching a consensus under the 4th round of APTA talks which would make these concessions a reality has been delayed due to disagreements by India, but those disagreements are not with SL, he said.
SL exported about US$ 50 million worth of goods to APTA (formerly Bangkok Agreement) member countries last year. China topped the list with US$ 29 million, followed by India (US$ 13 million) and Korea (US$ six million).
Coir products were the island’s biggest export with US$ 24.5 million followed by natural rubber (US$ 14.5 million). Other exports under APTA included rubber products, fish “products,” floor tiles and tea.
APTA is the biggest trade agreement after the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ILFTA), said Senadheera.
The objective of APTA is to cover at least 40% of tariff lines.
But studies have shown that Sri Lanka has under-utilised APTA concessions by 50%, he said.
CD plans to educate exporters about APTA.
Senadheera’s talk however didn’t cover the EU and US markets, SL’s number 1 and number 2 export destinations respectively.
Exports to the EU have been hit due to the withdrawal of the GSP + concession, while certain exports to the USA are under threat because of the labour GSP issue.
“There are a large number of exports made to the USA which could enjoy the GSP duty free concession, resulting in the saving of millions of dollars in duties,” said Senadheera. This ignorance is either on the part of the exporter, or of the importer, he said.
A number of these concessions are tied to the rules of origin criterion, ie the requirement of a minimum local value addition. For instance under APTA, the local value addition should be a minimum of 45%.
Senadhira said that GSP are non-reciprocal concessions/TAs. Other TAs touched upon by Senadhira in his speech were the ILFTA, Sri Lanka-Pakistan FTA (smoked rubber sheets topped the list last year with US$ 10 million worth of exports under this agreement), South Asian Preferential Trade Arrangement (under which arrangement SL made US$ 1.77 million worth of exports last year) and South Asian FTA (some US$ 608,624 worth of exports to India and Pakistan last year, including US$ 579,420 worth of ekel broom sticks to Pakistan). The seminar was organized by the Spices and Allied Products,’ Producers’ and Traders’ Association. (See also page 37)
Ravi Ratnayake, Director, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Trade and Investment Division says intra-regional trade can play a large role in reducing poverty, but barriers to trade among the region’s developing countries remain relatively high. “By simply eliminating all tariffs among each other, the region can reduce the number of people living on less than $1 a day by 43 million.” (Source: ESCAP)
The three giants in the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), namely Korea, India and China are prepared to recognize Sri Lanka (SL) as a Least Developed Country (LDC) and give it a near zero (90%) duty concessionary entry into their markets on an average under certain tariff lines, a Commerce Department (CD) official said.
CD Director General Gomi Senadheera speaking at a seminar on Trade Agreements (TAs) on Monday said that currently the duty concession is around 20%.
Related Info:
Sri Lankan Exporters Should Make Use of Free Trade Deals
21 October 2010
Sri Lankan Exporters Should Make Use of Free Trade Deals
20th October 2010, www.lankabusinessonline.com
Sri Lankan exporters are still not making enough use of free trade deals giving duty free or preferential access to big markets, a senior trade official sa
id.
Gomi Senadhera, Director General of the Department of Commerce, said rates of utilisation of key trade deals like the Asia - Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) and South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) were low.
"Utilisation rates are not very high either because exporters are not obtaining certificates of origin from the department of commerce or because the importer is not presenting it and getting duty concessions," he told a forum.
The seminar on free trade agreements was organized by the Spices & Allied Products Producers’ & Traders’ Association (SAPPTA) of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
Senadhera said APTA, previously known as the Bangkok agreement, was becoming more important as it gave exporters like SAPPTA members access to China, India and South Korea.
China's membership of APTA theoretically gives Sri Lanka access to one of the largest markets in the world, he said.
"Under APTA there is a substantially large volume exported without preferences being claimed to China and Korea for which your importer is paying duty when they are entitled to duty free or preferential duty," said Senadhera.
"The rules of origin and other aspects are quite simple," he said. "Its importance today is that we look at APTA largely as a platform for market access with China and Korea."
Although exports under APTA have grown, it was still only about 50 million dollars worth of goods to China, Korea, India and Bangladesh with about 1,800 certificates of origin issued by the commerce department.
"Our utilisation rates are not very high - only around 50 percent," said Senadhera. "It means there's another 50 percent of exports which should benefit and people are not aware of it."
The main products exports under APTA are coir, natural rubber, tea, apparel, rubber products, fish products, activated carbon, floor tiles, and porcelain.
"We must improve exports to China and South Korea," he said. "If we are not using these free trade arrangements exporters should come and see us to find out how best they can use these trade preferences."
Under the South Asia Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA) also total Sri Lankan exports "remains modest," Senadhera said.
Exports have actually fallen to 1.8 million dollars in 2009 from 3.8 million dollars in 2007.
The main products exported are rubber gloves, natural rubber, black tea, bicycle tires, copra, coconut oil, nutmeg, desiccated coconut, activated carbon, coir yarn and coir fibre.
"To China alone we exported last year about 28 million dollars worth of good and to India 13 million dollars worth under APTA," Senadhera said. "Under APTA we exported more to India than under SAPTA."
These trade deals were useful for exporters as a lot of products covered under them are locally produced for the domestic market and therefore eligible for export.
Senadhera said there was a lot of criticism about the free trade deal with India because more products were sent under that deal than under others.
"That's why we don’t hear about other agreements - when you don't export you don;t have problems. Only when goods go and you have to clear them that you have the problems.
"If a trade agreement is successful that should generate problems - no successful trade agreement is without problems."
Sri Lanka GSP trade deal with the United States was also not being used enough.
"There is a substantially large volume exported where exporters do not use GSP," Senadhera said.
"It appears some exporters and importers are paying a few million dollars in duty for which they are entitled to duty free access. We're trying to find out who these exporters are to find out whether they could get the concession."
Related Info :
• South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) - Detailed Information - The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI)
• Asia– Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) Formerly the Bangkok Agreement - Detailed Information - The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI)
Sri Lankan exporters are still not making enough use of free trade deals giving duty free or preferential access to big markets, a senior trade official sa
id.Gomi Senadhera, Director General of the Department of Commerce, said rates of utilisation of key trade deals like the Asia - Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) and South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) were low.
"Utilisation rates are not very high either because exporters are not obtaining certificates of origin from the department of commerce or because the importer is not presenting it and getting duty concessions," he told a forum.
The seminar on free trade agreements was organized by the Spices & Allied Products Producers’ & Traders’ Association (SAPPTA) of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
Senadhera said APTA, previously known as the Bangkok agreement, was becoming more important as it gave exporters like SAPPTA members access to China, India and South Korea.
China's membership of APTA theoretically gives Sri Lanka access to one of the largest markets in the world, he said.
"Under APTA there is a substantially large volume exported without preferences being claimed to China and Korea for which your importer is paying duty when they are entitled to duty free or preferential duty," said Senadhera.
"The rules of origin and other aspects are quite simple," he said. "Its importance today is that we look at APTA largely as a platform for market access with China and Korea."
Although exports under APTA have grown, it was still only about 50 million dollars worth of goods to China, Korea, India and Bangladesh with about 1,800 certificates of origin issued by the commerce department.
"Our utilisation rates are not very high - only around 50 percent," said Senadhera. "It means there's another 50 percent of exports which should benefit and people are not aware of it."
The main products exports under APTA are coir, natural rubber, tea, apparel, rubber products, fish products, activated carbon, floor tiles, and porcelain.
"We must improve exports to China and South Korea," he said. "If we are not using these free trade arrangements exporters should come and see us to find out how best they can use these trade preferences."
Under the South Asia Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA) also total Sri Lankan exports "remains modest," Senadhera said.
Exports have actually fallen to 1.8 million dollars in 2009 from 3.8 million dollars in 2007.
The main products exported are rubber gloves, natural rubber, black tea, bicycle tires, copra, coconut oil, nutmeg, desiccated coconut, activated carbon, coir yarn and coir fibre.
"To China alone we exported last year about 28 million dollars worth of good and to India 13 million dollars worth under APTA," Senadhera said. "Under APTA we exported more to India than under SAPTA."
These trade deals were useful for exporters as a lot of products covered under them are locally produced for the domestic market and therefore eligible for export.
Senadhera said there was a lot of criticism about the free trade deal with India because more products were sent under that deal than under others.
"That's why we don’t hear about other agreements - when you don't export you don;t have problems. Only when goods go and you have to clear them that you have the problems.
"If a trade agreement is successful that should generate problems - no successful trade agreement is without problems."
Sri Lanka GSP trade deal with the United States was also not being used enough.
"There is a substantially large volume exported where exporters do not use GSP," Senadhera said.
"It appears some exporters and importers are paying a few million dollars in duty for which they are entitled to duty free access. We're trying to find out who these exporters are to find out whether they could get the concession."
Related Info :
• South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) - Detailed Information - The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI)
• Asia– Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) Formerly the Bangkok Agreement - Detailed Information - The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI)
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