Sri Lanka’s e-commerce reforms to assist SMEs gain access to overseas markets
An official of the Sri Lankan government has reportedly said that the e-commerce reforms that are currently underway in the country are aimed at encouraging more transactions and helping companies, especially small businesses, improve access to overseas markets.
“Improving electronic-commerce is for the benefit of SMEs (small and medium enterprises),” Dayaratna Silva, national project coordinator of the European Union-Sri Lanka Trade-Related Assistance project has been quoted as saying.
“It is the SMEs who should be ultimate beneficiaries of this initiative,” he has reportedly told a forum on e-commerce reforms in the island involving public and private sector officials.
“Bigger companies have the ability and resources to get around the problem be it e-commerce or other areas. It is the small firms often who do not have the capabilities.”
The ‘National Public-Private Dialogue’ on e-commerce reforms was organised by Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Digital Infrastructure and Information Technology (MDIIT) and the International Trade Centre (ITC).
The ITC is a joint agency of the United Nations and World Trade Organisation that focuses on strengthening soft infrastructure-related assistance to trade and trains developing country officials to improve use of trade as a tool for development.
“With proper management of e-commerce, with a policy framework, e-commerce offers significant sales channels for SMEs which is the focus area for this project,” Silva has told the forum.
The proposed reforms cover a wide range of areas to promote e-commerce, ranging from electronic payments, data protection and privacy, consumer protection, and cybersecurity to logistics and access and education.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka is currently engaged in a programme to transform the country in to an e-economy. The government of Sri Lanka has introduced many programmes and provided many incentives to businesses engaged in ICT to help develop the country’s ICT and digital infrastructure sectors. All this has resulted in the expansion of business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s ICT and digital infrastructure sectors.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/04092019/Z_3 |