Hemantha Perera, Secretary, Sri Lanka Chamber of Garment Exporters has urged the country’s apparel industry to increase value addition in exports to the EU from 52 per cent to 65 per cent. A member of the Joint Apparel Association Forum, Perera believes this will enable them to utilize GSP+ benefits to the fullest.

Perera was speaking at a panel discussion, ‘GSP Plus; Past, Present and Future’, hosted by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka and the Colombo Chamber of Commerce. He noted that certain fabrics used for apparel production are currently being imported from regions that disqualify the manufactured product for tariff reductions under the EU’s GSP+ concessions. This disqualification could be resolved through local production of such inputs, he added.

Several other speakers highlighted the need for Sri Lanka to retain GSP+ concessions to the EU, including Suresh de Mel, Chairman, Export Development Board (EDB) and Dayaratna Silva, Sri Lanka’s former Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Silva referred to previous studies published by respected academics that highlight instances of GSP+ withdrawal had a negative impact on the country’s overall economy – with GDP declining by more than 1 per cent.