British State Minister for South Asia, the United Nations (UN), and the Commonwealth Lord Tariq Ahmed has assured that the UK Government looks forward to working with the Government of President Ranil Wickremesinghe to resolve economic and social issues faced by Sri Lanka, while Britain launched a scheme to extend tariff cuts on hundreds of products, such as clothes and food, from developing countries, including Sri Lanka. In a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena yesterday (16), he exchanged details on the issues faced by Sri Lanka, the Prime Minister’s Media Division announced. Prime Minister Gunawardena had briefed him about economic, social, and political challenges, and the Government’s short-, medium-, and long-term steps to solve them and bring relief to the people, while Lord Ahmed had assured Gunawardena of the UK’s support for the steps taken in those directions. Meanwhile, Britain has launched a scheme to extend tariff cuts on hundreds of products, such as clothes and food, from developing countries including Sri Lanka, as part of London’s post-Brexit efforts to set up systems to replace those run by the EU. “The UK’s new Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) is one of the most generous sets of trading preferences of any country in the world, and will benefit Sri Lanka by boosting the economy and supporting jobs,” British High Commissioner in Colombo Sarah Hulton had said, regarding the scheme. The scheme replaces the UK Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP), which was rolled over from EU membership, and will come into force in early 2023. It covers 37 countries in Africa, 18 in Asia, eight in Oceania, and two in the Americas. Sri Lanka is among eight countries under the scheme’s “Enhanced Framework” that will receive a preference of “0% import tariffs on two-thirds of product lines”. Bolivia, Cape Verde, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, and Uzbekistan are the other countries under the Enhanced Framework. The scheme reduces and removes those tariffs reduced or removed by the EU GSP. Hulton said Sri Lanka will continue to benefit from duty free exports to the UK on more than 80% of products and that the DCTS will remove tariffs on over 150 additional products. It will also simplify some seasonal tariffs, meaning additional and simpler access for Sri Lanka’s exports to the UK. In June, then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he wanted to start a new trade system to reduce costs and simplify rules for 65 developing countries to replace the EU’s GSP, which applies import duties at reduced rates. UK Trade Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the DCTS would extend tariff cuts to hundreds more products exported from developing countries, a system, she said, that goes further than the EU scheme. The DCTS covers 65 countries including Sri Lanka, simplifies rules such as rules of origin, which dictate what proportion of a product must be made in its country of origin, and removes some seasonal tariffs, such as making cucumbers tariff-free in the winter. Products that are not widely produced in the UK, like olive oil and tomatoes, will also have lower or zero tariffs, making them cheaper to import. The scheme also simplifies complex trade rules, including so-called rules of origin, making it easier for businesses in countries like Bangladesh to export clothes to the UK. Duties will also be reduced by 14% on bikes from Sri Lanka, 12% on T-shirts for Cambodia, 12% on baby clothes from Sri Lanka, 8% on roses from Ethiopia, and 8% on onions from Senegal. Broadly, the scheme will ensure British businesses benefit from more than GBP 750 million a year on reduced import costs, which the Department for International Trade said would lead to more choice and lower costs for UK consumers to help with the cost of living. (With agencies’ inputs)