SL-Iraq trade talks begin in Baghdad

Daily Mirror - 27/02/2014

The latest Sri Lanka-Iraq Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation (JEC) Commenced February 25 in Baghdad, a statement from the Industry and Commerce Ministry said.

“Iraq is certainly an important market for us not only for tea but even for other prospective products. Similarly, there would be good opportunities for Iraq to promote its products using Sri Lanka’s potential,” said Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, making his opening remarks at the eighth session of Sri Lanka Iraq Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation (JEC) meeting in Baghdad, heading a 16-member delegation.

On its part, displaying an unprecedented interest, the Iraqi government was fielding an official team of more than 30 members that consisted representatives from such key Iraqi Ministries as Trade, Economic Relations, Transportation and Industry and Minerals. The Iraqi team at the Baghdad JEC session was led by Trade Minister Kheer-allah Hassan Babaker Muhammad.

Iraqi Trade Minister Babaker Muhammad said, “Iraq side is keen to share the experiences of Sri Lanka, particularly in the fields of investment promotion, free trade zones, financial and health sectors.”

According to the Commerce Department of Sri Lanka, the value of total trade between the two countries that stood at US $ 8.72 million in 2003 topped US $ 89.99 million in 2013.

Sri Lanka exported goods totalling US $ 89.80 million to Iraq and imported only goods worth US $ 0.19 million from Iraq during 2013. Tea has been a major export item to Iraq accounting for about 95 percent of Sri Lanka’s exports to Iraq, with an estimated 15,000MT of Ceylon tea being exported indirectly through Dubai, Jordan and Kuwait.

Minister Bathiudeen said, “The establishment of the Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation between our two countries in 1975, opened a new chapter in our cooperation for development and enhancing our relations in diverse fields covering trade, economic and technical cooperation. On bilateral trade, we observe that there is a very slow progress, which may be due to the prevailing circumstances.

There is a lot of renewed interest among the foreign investors in investment in prospective projects in different sectors. Sri Lanka’s highly literate skilled labour force, transparent investment laws guaranteed by the Constitution and the international agreements, have made Sri Lanka one of the most preferred investment destination among the international business community. I wish to take this opportunity to invite the Iraq business community to visit Sri Lanka and explore the opportunities available for them in their areas of interest.”

Iraq – Sri Lanka trade tops $90 million, up 80 per cent

Lanka Business Today - 26/02/2014

Bilateral trade between Sri Lanka - Iraq has reached $90 million, an 80 per cent increase, and the two countries are aiming to break new ground when the largest joint trade session has begun in Baghdad. OPEC’s second biggest oil power is also ready to channel its Basra Light Crude to Sri Lankan refineries.

”In the past Sri Lanka bought and refined our oil. You can buy our Basra Light brand of crude streams and we are ready to supply them to you as we are a top buyer of Ceylon Tea,” said a confident Ambassador of Iraq in Sri Lanka, Kahtan Taha Khalaf in Colombo last week.

Ambassador Khalaf made these observations during a meeting with Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka on February 19. Also present on the occasion were officials of the Department of Commerce and Dr Ali Abdul Razaq Salah Al-Kuhlee, Assistant Commercial Attache, Embassy of Iraq in Sri Lanka.

Iraq is OPEC’s second biggest oil power after Saudi Arabia. According to the ministry, the value of total trade between the two countries that stood at $ 8.72 million in 2003 topped $ 89.99 million in 2013. Sri Lanka exported goods valued at $ 89.80 million to Iraq and imported only goods valued at $ 0.19 million from Iraq during 2013.  Tea has been a major export item to Iraq accounting for about 95% of the total exports to Iraq. It is also estimated that almost 15,000MT of Ceylon tea is being exported to Iraq indirectly through Dubai, Jordan and Kuwait.

“A can refine Basra light crude to more than 50%, even up to 60% here” said the envoy. Global oil industry related reports that showed Iraq’s Basra Light has now stabilized to around 30 (degrees) API density, also said that since 2013, Iraq has become very competitive in its oil supplies. Ambassador Khalaf however, did not discuss any pricing details of Basra Light with Minister Bathiudeen.

“We are also looking forward to strong participation at the Joint Economic Commission talks with Sri Lanka in Baghdad. We are planning to invite Iraqi business chambers and many of our officials for this session so that we can move bilateral business forward with Sri Lanka. We need to initiate double taxation avoidance on both sides” said ambassador Khalaf last week and added: “We are happy with your well-developed tourism-specifically, the medical tourism. More than 20,000 Iraqi’s go overseas annually for their medical needs and they will be very happy to come to Sri Lanka and benefit from your surging medical tourism facilities. They are comfortable with the six-hour flight to Sri Lanka. Please think of accommodating at least even 10% of them to Sri Lanka’s medical tourism. We are also in need of Sri Lankan trained medical personnel such as anesthetists, nurses, and physicians since they are good. We are ready to provide all facilities, food and tickets with good salaries - minimum salaries starting from $ 2,000 per month and even going to around $ 4,000!,” said the ambassador.

“Iraq is one of the biggest trade partners for Sri Lanka in the Middle East. This suggestion on Basra Light, among your other suggestions, is interesting and needs some study by us before any decisions. During the Joint Economic Commission (JEC) talks in Baghdad, your team can begin official discussions with us on this. I am also pleased to inform you that I am bringing one of the strongest Sri Lankan delegations ever, around 15 members, for next week’s eighth Joint Economic Commission Session in Baghdad. As per your request, we are looking to cover a wide range of issues to advance our cooperation-in aspects of trade including tea supplies and related shipping logistics, investment, financials, education, aviation, tourism, health and even man-power,” said the ambassador.

Since the Iraqi-Sri Lanka Joint Economic Commission was established in 1975, seven sessions have been held,-the last being in Colombo in October 2010. The 8th SL-Iraqi JEC session is now underway Baghdad beginning February 24 - one of the biggest bilateral trade rounds ever to take place involving both trade partners.

Lankan exporters invited to utilize Pakistan’s GSP Plus with EU

Daily Mirror - 24/02/2014
By Sashi Ratnayake

Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Major General Qasim Qureshi made an open invitation to Sri Lankan exporters to utilize the current Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP) scheme Pakistan enjoys with the European Union (EU) and expand trade between the two countries through the existing free trade agreement (FTA).

“Pakistan’s new GSP plus scheme with the EU is an opportunity for Sri Lankan exporters. For that we should jointly explore whatever is possible within the rules and regulations of the trade concession,” Qureshi said during a discussion held at the National Chamber of Commerce, recently.

Pakistan was granted the GSP plus status by the end of December 2013 till the year 2017. The GSP Plus status will allow almost 20 percent of Pakistani exports to enter the EU market at zero tariff and 70 percent at preferential rates, enabling Pakistan to export more than US $ 1 billion worth of products to the international markets. It is said that only the textile industry would earn profits of more than Rs1 trillion per year.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s High Commission First Secretary Hasan Zaigham joining the discussion explained Pakistan’s position as the third largest consumer of tea in the world.

He pointed out though Sri Lanka exports tea to Pakistan, only elite Pakistani citizens could afford to enjoy the exported tea while the majority of the middle class drinks cheap Indian tea. He urged Sri Lankan tea exporters to look at the possibility of revising the prices to cater to the growing middle class of Pakistan.

According to Zaigham Pakistan by 2012 had a population of 179.2 million people who extensively use motor vehicles. During his presentation he made a strong case for Lankan tyre exporters to contemplate on entering Pakistani tyre market.

Throughout the discussion the Pakistani officials repeatedly mentioned about the interest some of the Pakistani companies have upon entering the sugar industry of Sri Lanka, while explaining higher demand for fruits such as cashew and pineapple in Pakistan showing the new areas the two countries could work upon.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan bilateral trade currently stands at US $ 440 million and it is expected that the trade will grow over US $ 1 billion in the coming few years.

Pakistan expects to invest US$ 500 mn in Sri Lanka

Daily News - 24/02/2014
By Indunil Hewage

Pakistan is expected to invest around US$ 500 million in Sri Lanka in the next three years, said Hasan Zaigham, the First Secretary, Pakistan High Commission in Sri Lanka addressing a seminar on Sri Lanka and Pakistan trade, organized by the National Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka.

Investments from Pakistan into Sri Lanka have begun to pick up. As of December 2012, the total cumulative investment stood at around US$ 11.9 million and currently Investment of around US$ 233.3 million is in the pipeline.

Pakistani companies have invested in agriculture, IT, textiles and construction /real estate development.

A number of Pakistani companies have shown interest in investment in sugar sector of Sri Lanka.

Bi-lateral Trade between Sri Lanka and Pakistan to be increased to US$ 1 billion from current US$ 400 million.

“Promotion of Ceylon Tea and apparel in Pakistan, Sri Lanka needs to engage in an aggressive campaign in Pakistan to change the preference of the consumers,” Zaigham said.

Pakistan is the fourth largest importer of tea in the world after Russia, UK and Egypt.

Pakistan is the third biggest consumer of tea. The demand for black tea is over 170 million kg.

“Under-utilization of concessions provided by the both sides under the Sri Lanka Pakistan Free Trade Agreement is a major issue,” Zaigham said.

Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) of 10,000 metric tons on tea is however not fully utilized by Sri Lanka. In 1975, close to 67 percent of Pakistani tea imports came from Sri Lanka. By 1998 it declined to 7 percent and to further 2.6 percent by 2003.

The TRQs granted to Sri Lanka on apparel also remain underutilized.

The opportunity offered by the FTA could be exploited by the apparel sector by taking a serious look at the Pakistani market.

Sri Lankan raw rubber exporters have a major opportunity to capture a larger share of the Pakistani market and there are also vast opportunities available to export pineapple and cashew nut.

Since many of the goods that Sri Lanka exports to Pakistan have low preference, there may not be a significant expansion in traded volume of exports in the near future, unless Sri Lanka diversifies its basket of goods to higher-preference point items.

Impact of the Sri Lanka- Pakistan Free Trade Agreement on the value of Sri Lankas exports to Pakistan seemed negligible.

“Despite the 4600 tariff lines offered to Sri Lanka only around 80 percent of its exports take place using 16 to 17 tariff lines,” Zaigham said. However, Pakistan experienced growth in exports to Sri Lanka at a much faster rate.

Sri Lankan imports from Pakistan rose from US$ 192 million in 2008 (1.4 percent of total imports), to US$ 351 million in 2012 (2 percent of total imports).

Pakistan imports from Sri Lanka were valued at US$ 83.412 Million in 2012. Pakistan exports to Sri Lanka comprise mainly of cotton and fabrics which in 2012 accounted for 32% of total exports.

In 2008 the value of Sri Lankan exports to Pakistan was US$ 71.37 million (0.9 percent of total exports). 2012 saw this figure rise to US $ 82.75 million, but this figure still accounted only for 0.9 percent of Sri Lanka's total export. Pakistan exports are being value added by Sri Lanka for export to other markets.

Further liberalization of trade in goods by rationalization of negative lists will help boost the bi-lateral trade between two countries. Broadening and deepening on FTA by including Investment and Services , Encouraging bilateral investments , building institutional mechanisms including more robust dispute resolution mechanism and customs cooperation, marketing Sri Lanka as a tourist destination in Pakistan, getting Inputs from the private sector in technical review talks on FTA and encouraging business delegations to participate in trade fairs will create many opportunities for both countries to enhance trade and investment opportunities.

Lanka, Iraq bilateral trade up by 80% to $ 90 mn

Daily News - 20/02/2014

Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce meets Iraqi Ambassador in Sri Lanka Kahtan Taha Khalaf in Colombo

As bilateral trade topped $90 mn, Iraq and Sri Lanka are aiming to break new grounds when largest joint trade session will commence in Baghdad next week-and OPEC's second biggest oil power is now ready to channel its Basra Light crude to Sri Lankan refineries.

" In the past Sri Lanka bought and refined our oil but has discontinued. You can buy our Basra Light brand of crude streams and we are ready to supply them to you as we are a top buyer of Ceylon Tea," said Iraqi Ambassador in Sri Lanka Kahtan Taha Khalaf yesterday.

Iraq is OPEC's second biggest oil power after Saudi Arabia. According to the Department of Sri Lanka, the value of total trade between the two countries that stood at $ 8.72 mn in 2003 topped $ 89.99 mn in 2013. Sri Lanka exported goods totalling $ 89.80 mn to Iraq and imported only goods of $ 0.19 mn from Iraq during 2013. Tea has been a major export item to Iraq accounting for about 95% of the total exports to Iraq. It is also estimated that almost 15,000 MT of Ceylon tea is being exported to Iraq indirectly through Dubai, Jordan and Kuwait.

"In the past Sri Lanka bought and refined our oil but has discontinued. You can buy our Basra Light brand of crude and we are ready to supply them to you as we are a top buyer of Ceylon Tea. You can refine Basra light crude to more than 50%, even up to 60% here," Khalaf said.

SRI LANKA: Apparel exports exceed $4bn target

Sri Lanka's apparel and textile sector exported a record US$4.3bn in 2013 and its Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) has predicted overseas sales will continue rising this year.

The JAAF president Noel Piyatilake told just-style the industry is targeting an ambitious target of US$6bn in exports by 2020, making Sri Lanka one of the world's top 10 apparel exporting countries.

Piyatilake is also hoping to gain extra leverage from planned trade agreements. "We have made several representations to the Sri Lankan government to explore the option of entering into preferential treatment agreements with several countries including China, Japan, India, Brazil and Russia, which will benefit our sector immensely," he explained.

Tuli Cooray, the JAAF secretary general, added that the 2013 figures were particularly encouraging given the original export sales target for last year was US$4bn. In 2012, Sri Lanka clothing and textile producers exported US$3.8bn worth of products.

Most sales were made to customers in the United States and Europe, with more than US$1.9bn of clothing exported to the European Union and US$1.8bn to the US.

Meanwhile, discussions are already underway between the Sri Lankan and Chinese governments for a possible free trade agreement which officials predict will be finalised and signed this year (2014).

The Sri Lankan apparel sector is particularly optimistic about this potential deal as it views China as a key emerging market, ripe for well-priced Sri Lankan exports.

Lanka mulling to be a medical tourism brand

Asian Tribune - 13/02/2014

Merging its latest tourism arrivals to its modernizing healthcare, Sri Lanka is mulling to be a medical tourism destination next-while also opening a new niche service niche in its surging exports.

“Due to the support of well-trained, high quality healthcare professionals, availability of treatment centres as well as pharmaceuticals, we are witnessing the emergence of a new sector, that is medical tourism, contributing to our service exports” said an upbeat Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka on 12 February in Colombo.

Minister Bathiudeen was addressing the launch event of the twin exhibition -Intrad 2014 and Arogya 2014- at Hilton Colombo on 12 February afternoon. The event to be held from May from 16th to 18th in Colombo is organized by the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Ministry of Health, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Traditional Industries & Small Enterprise Development and EDB being co-organisers. During the event, Minister Bathiudeen also launched the twin event’s official website, www.intrad-arogya2014.com.

“The INTRAD 2014 and Arogya 2014 are gaining gradual recognition among our business community as networking events for these growth sectors in Colombo. I am given to understand that INTRAD is a wide ranging exhibition, including industries, imports and even exports. As the Minister in charge of exports, I commend your efforts to promote our exports through this series” said Minister Bathiudeen, addressing the event,

He added: “In fact, I am pleased to share the good news with you on our exports. As announced two days ago, earnings from exports during 2013 grew by 6.3% to $ 10.38 Bn. As the Minister of Industries, I am also pleased to note that Industrial exports, have led 2013 December growth on Year on Year basis. In December, monthly Industrial exports increased by 15.2% to $ 741 Mn. These strong growth rates are reported at a time when we target national exports goal of $ 20 Bn by 2020 under the committed vision of HE the President Mahinda Rajapaksa. NCC’s other concurrent exhibition, the Arogya series, focuses on healthcare. With only a per capita healthcare expenditure of $ 175, at first, Sri Lanka does not appear to have an advanced healthcare infrastructure similar to the developed countries. However, this does not show us the full picture. Due to the support of well-trained, high quality healthcare professionals, availability of treatment centres as well as pharmaceuticals, we are witnessing the emergence of a new sector, that is medical tourism, contributing to our service exports. “

Minister further said, “Studies show that around 15% of patients in Sri Lanka are foreign patients, such as from Maldives. I am pleased to say that two healthcare companies, that is Lanka Hospitals and Durdans, already have active programs for foreign medical tourists. In fact, the Export Development Board under my Ministry, which is also partnering for INTRAD and Arogya, believes that medical tourism is a promising service sector to drive our foreign exchange earnings. Developing a strong niche in medical tourism, can result in a special tourism brand for Sri Lanka in the long term. Our tourism sector reported more than 1.2 million arrivals in 2013, according to the office of Sri Lanka Tourism. I wish to commend the Economic Development Minister Hon Basil Rajapaksa for this growth. Since medical tourism is at the middle of several sectors, such as tourism, healthcare and inbound travel packaging, we believe that Public Private Partnerships are a good way to strengthen this promising sector, so that our government’s goals in tourism related hub synergies are leveraged well”.

“The twin events have progressed considerably during the last few years” revealed Sunil Wijesinghe (Chairman-National Chamber of Commerce). “These two events in coming May in Colombo will have international participation like last year where Japanese, Chinese, Indian, and Pakistani delegates took part” Wijesinghe added.

“Some stalls of INTRAD 2014 and Arogya 2014 are already sold out” said Thilak Godamanna, Snr. Deputy President of NCC. “We hope this year’s event will be more successful than last year’s” Godamanna said.