China-Sri Lanka Trade: MoU signed to align export standards
CGTV: Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena has called for closer economic cooperation with China. He made the comments during an official visit to Shanghai on 29 March.
China’s national Quality Certification Centre and Sri Lanka’s Bureau of Standards signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to better align trade standards.
China is Sri Lanka’s second-largest trading partner and the country’s second-largest source of imports.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said: “We have to abide by the quality requirements that are needed. Therefore, China’s advanced quality requirements for Sri Lankan exports into China will also need more cooperation and working together for which so many discussions have been held. We hope this area will be pursued faster so that Sri Lankan products could come into China on the approved agreements and approved standards.”
Meanwhile, China Quality Certification Centre Managing Director Xie Zhaoxun said: “Conformity assessment is a globally acknowledged quality management tool and trade facilitator. We firmly anticipate this partnership to further facilitate China-Sri Lanka technical exchange on conformity assessment and economic and trade exchanges.”
OSL take:
As part of Sri Lanka’s efforts to further strengthen and expand the country’s trade ties with traditional as well as new partners, Sri Lanka is also focused on diversifying and expanding the country’s product portfolio. While there have been many promotional campaigns aimed at promoting local products in the foreign market, local export authorities continue to push local exporters to expand their product portfolio. It is in such a backdrop that Sri Lanka has signed an MoU with China to focus on export standards. Such an agreement would provide a further impetus to Sri Lanka’s exports to China, thereby further expanding the business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s manufacturing and export sectors. The many trade agreements and trade concessions enjoyed by Sri Lanka with other countries have also helped the expansion of the local manufacturing and export sectors. Given the ongoing growth in Sri Lanka’s trade sector with new agreements and MoUs, the country’s export industry is on a buoyant growth path closing on the target of becoming a regional hub. The growing business potential in Sri Lanka’s manufacturing and export sectors mean that foreign businesses/investors could confidently explore the growing opportunities in these sectors in the country.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20240409/Z_2 |