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NCE applauds Prez’s aim to make SL export-oriented

01 Sep 2022

  • Urges resurrecting Export Council of Ministers
By Imsha Iqbal    The National Chamber of Exports (NCE) of Sri Lanka applauded President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s stance on making Sri Lanka’s economy an export-oriented one, at a time when the country is experiencing an economic crisis due to its depleted foreign reserves. NCE President Ravi Jaywardena made this statement on Wednesday (30 August) during his opening remarks at the press conference held in view of the 30th anniversary of the NCE Annual Export Awards at Jetwing Hotel, Colombo 07.  Jayawardena, however, said: “The exporters faced numerous challenges mainly due to the lack of foreign exchange to buy raw material, as well as the energy crisis hindering the continuation of the production and leading to higher operational cost.” At the same time, the NCE urged the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to resurrect the Export Council of Ministers, which has not convened for nearly two decades, while proposing the absorption of State sector workers into the private sector for a period of five years on a no-pay leave basis. Jaywardena further said that this proposal was already submitted to President Wickremesinghe in June this year. The NCE pointed out that this public sector employee absorption would lift the burden of expenditure of the crisis-stricken Government, but would not include employees from the Department of Inland Revenue, Sri Lanka Police, Tri-Forces, and Sri Lanka Customs due to “conflicts of interest”. Moreover, the NCE urged the GoSL to focus on the Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) industry in promoting an export-led economy.  President Wickremesinghe emphasised it is the need of the hour for the country to transform into a competitive export-oriented economy, saying, “there is no other way out”, during his address at the Organisation of Professional Associations (OPA) annual conference and awards ceremony last month. During this address, Wickremesinghe further said: “One of the areas as mentioned here is agriculture. With 500 million additional people to feed, why not modernise our agriculture, and not depend on traditional agriculture?”  In addition, when presenting the interim Budget for 2022 in his capacity as Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation, and National Policies, Wickremesinghe noted that the aim is to pursue a share of the global market on agriculture exports and utilise the unemployed youth of the country in cultivating Government lands, while enhancing exported-oriented foreign direct investments (FDIs). Speaking at the NCE press conference on Wednesday, NCE Secretary General and CEO Shiham Marikar stressed the NCE’s avenue in seeking “ethically trading exporters” in Sri Lanka who practice good governance and protect the environment through the Certificate of Ethical Trading, while adding that the Exporters’ Chamber looks forward to granting the Award Winners Icon, a logo that an award-winning exporter is entitled to use for a period of two years in all promotional as well as marketing efforts, in order to differentiate the particular enterprise in the international market.   Also, the NCE expects to celebrate the “Pearl Anniversary of the Exports Awards” under the theme of “Recognising, Inspiring, and Strengthening” on 2 December 2022 at the Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo. The Premium Sponsor at the award ceremony is ExPack Corrugated Cartons. Meanwhile, the Principal Sponsors are Asia Securities, Commercial Bank, Hatton National Bank (HNB), Sampath Bank, and Seylan Bank, while the Print Media Partner is Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. (Lake House).                   


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