Features
Is Sri Lanka serious about benefiting from European Union support?

*EU has been a steady supporter of Sri Lanka since the opening of the EU Delegation in the country in 1995
*Through the GSP+, the EU has unilaterally granted duty free access to about 7,000 Sri Lankan products
*Over-protecting local industries may reduce productivity and competitiveness of Sri Lankan products
by Sanath Nanayakkare
Denis Chaibi, Ambassador, Head of Delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka and the Maldives had a series of discussions with a number of Sri Lankan authorities recently while he was on an official tour in the country. ‘The Island’ had an interview with Chaibi after he had concluded the round of talks. Below are some excerpts from that interview.
Q.
The EU, a Standards Super Power in the world, has consistently been supportive of Sri Lanka. How can Sri Lanka benefit from that support to build a best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure and receive international acceptance for its products and services in the global market?
A
. Indeed, the EU has been a steady supporter of Sri Lanka. Since the opening of the EU Delegation in the country in 1995, the EU taxpayers have provided roughly one billion Euro in development assistance. All of this in grants, with no significant conditions attached.
With 27 Member States and 450 million customers with high income, we are also the largest market in the world. Through the GSP+, the EU has unilaterally granted duty free access to about 7,000 Sri Lankan products – that’s 66% of the EU tariff lines.
To help Sri Lanka in taking full advantage of these GSP+ opportunities, the EU had also made available over 8 million EUR of grants for trade assistance, with the support of specialised UN agencies such as UNIDO and the International Trade Centre. This cooperation translates into real support for Sri Lanka’s national export strategy, help SME’s to get ready to export and encourage new export sectors. Diversification is important as Sri Lankan exports are still focused on very few products.
Sri Lanka has a number of strengths it can further work on. First is the focus on quality. There are opportunities in producing more quality goods for Sri Lanka to stay competitive in the global arena. To put it simply, many neighbouring countries can produce cheaper, but price is not the only way to stay competitive. Quality is another one.
Second, compared to many countries in the region Sri Lanka has high compliance with international labour and environmental standards. This a competitive advantage! Sri Lanka could move further towards sustainable production concepts such as organic produce, green production and Fair Trade practices. Such practices are highly valued by consumers around the world, and in particular in the EU. And they are ready to pay a premium for such products.
Third, beyond export promotion, Sri Lanka is reflecting on how to attract more investments and offer an attractive business environment. Investors can bring not only capital but also share their know-how and best practices.
Finally, a fourth strength would be to remain open for business! Over-protecting local industries may reduce productivity and competitiveness, meaning that products will be more expensive for Sri Lankans, and the possibilities to export will be limited as neighbours will produce better products for a cheaper price. Sri Lanka has a great opportunity to further develop its position as a regional trading hub and major trans-shipment centre. Yet, closing borders to imports is not conducive to these objectives.
Sri Lanka could look at coconut-based products which could be produced in Sri Lanka in the most effective and competitive way. Since the volume of production cannot compete with larger producing countries Sri Lanka could invest in niche products with very high added value marketing/branding their uniqueness. The EU supports geographical branding in Sri Lanka such as “Pure Ceylon Cinnamon”, this is one of the many way not only to add value but also offer new market access opportunity.
Q.
What should Sri Lanka do to gain support of the EU to obtain broader export market access?
A
.The EU market is already wide open: GSP+ grants unilateral tariff preferences on a large range of products to Sri Lanka. About €3 billion was imported into the EU from Sri Lanka in 2019 using the GSP+ preferences. This resulted in a positive trade balance for Sri Lanka of 1.5 billion euro in 2019 alone!
There has been impressive export growth in the months following the re-gaining of GSP+ in 2017 and in total, since its reinstatement, Sri Lanka’s exports to the EU have increased by more than 25%; Fisheries exports have literally doubled since the removal of the fish ban and regaining GSP+. Other notable growth sectors include clothing, tea, tyres, gems as well as motor vehicle parts and footwear.
We thus believe that GSP+ has worked and is working well for Sri Lanka. However, GSP+ still offers great future potential for Sri Lankan companies. GSP utilisation rate is currently still relatively low, and concentrated in a few sectors. We hope that this will improve in the future.
The recent reclassification of Sri Lanka as Lower Middle Income country, means that the GSP+ scheme can continue for at least another three years. On the other hand, this also requires Sri Lanka to continue implementing the 27 international Conventions GSP+ is based on – and all have been signed and ratified by Sri Lanka.
Beyond formal market access, it is also key for Sri Lankan exporters to comply with relevant European standards, in particular phytosanitary certificates (an official document required when shipping regulated articles such as plants, plant products or other regulated articles). We therefore support Sri Lanka in setting up relevant laboratories and in training its companies.
Anyone who has shopped for fruits and vegetables over the last year has seen that prices have increased drastically, and part of the reason is due to more concentrated demand and less competition.
European Importers also decide based on quantity and predictability of supply and other consumer requirements. So, Sri Lankan companies should be equipped with strong marketing and sales work force.
Q.
What do you think of the ongoing import ban in Sri Lanka?
A.
The European Union believes that global problems, such as the pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis, can only be solved through global cooperation. We can help ourselves only by working together. For the recovery of the Sri Lankan and global economy, open and rules-based trade is essential as it gives confidence to businesses to invest, and re-start exchanges that bring in employment and revenues.
Sri Lanka is the only country in the world that has recently adopted an outright import ban. We understand that the Government took this decision to solve a dire problem of foreign currencies. The situation is indeed difficult, but as time goes by, the import ban appears less and less as a temporary measure, and more and more as an economic policy that will increasingly prove incompatible with an export drive.
For Sri Lankan companies, it is already getting more difficult to obtain the needed inputs for their production. Even if special provisions allow them to import raw material, the ban simply complicates business and makes producing in Sri Lanka more expensive.
Highly-restrictive trade measures imposed by an import ban also reduces much-needed State revenue from import tariffs and para-tariffs. Overall, I fear that the import ban reduces Sri Lankan exports competitiveness by adding hurdles when importing raw materials, and by reducing shipping options. The legal uncertainty of the measures will reduce Sri Lanka’s ability to attract European investments, which Sri Lanka has been calling for.
Last, but not least Sri Lanka is part of global trade through its membership and compliance with WTO rules. So notification of the decision to the WTO, and explanations on how these measures will be rescinded, are needed.
In short, trade cannot be a one-way street where the EU is opening its market to Sri Lanka, which benefit greatly from it with a positive trade balance, while EU producers cannot have access to Sri Lanka.
Q.
What was the outcome of your recent engagement with Sri Lankan Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena and Foreign Affairs Minister Dinesh Gunawadena?
A.
We had a very good and open exchange with both Ministers. On trade, we understand from the meetings that the government is keen to continue cooperation with the EU under GSP+ and many other areas. There are a variety of assistance projects in the pipeline in the area of agriculture, the justice sector and in terms of COVID-19 response. We also agreed with the Foreign Minister to soon resume our formal political consultations through an EU-Sri Lanka Joint Commission and working groups on development, human rights and trade.
Q.
Did you have a dialogue with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa?
A.
Yes, of course. The last time all EU Ambassadors met President Rajapaksa was in June. We shared our concern about the import-ban but also discussed more broadly current challenges of the country and how we can work together to tackle them. This also included discussion about possible EU support in agricultural development, including cold storage facilities.
Features
BRICS’ pushback against dollar domination sparks global economic standoff

If one were to look for a ‘rationale’ for the Trump administration’s current decision to significantly raise its tariffs on goods and services entering its shores from virtually the rest of the world, then, it is a recent statement by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that one needs to scrutinize. He is quoted as saying that tariffs could return ‘to April levels, if countries fail to strike a deal with the US.’
In other words, countries are urged to negotiate better tariff rates with the US without further delay if they are not to be at the receiving end of the threatened new tariff regime and its disquieting conditions. An unemotional approach to the questions at hand is best.
It would be foolish on the part of the rest of the world to dismiss the Trump administration’s pronouncements on the tariff question as empty rhetoric. In this crisis there is what may be called a not so veiled invitation to the world to enter into discussions with the US urgently to iron out what the US sees as unfair trade terms. In the process perhaps mutually acceptable terms could be arrived at between the US and those countries with which it is presumably having costly trade deficits. The tariff crisis, therefore, should be approached as a situation that necessitates earnest, rational negotiations between the US and its trading partners for the resolving of outstanding issues.
Meanwhile, the crisis has brought more into the open simmering antagonisms between the US and predominantly Southern groupings, such as the BRICS. While the tariff matter figured with some urgency in the recent BRICS Summit in Brazil, it was all too clear that the biggest powers in the grouping were in an effort ‘to take the fight back to the US’ on trade, investment and connected issues that go to the heart of the struggle for global predominance between the East and the US. In this connection the term ‘West’ would need to be avoided currently because the US is no longer in complete agreement with its Western partners on issues of the first magnitude, such as the Middle East, trade tariffs and Ukraine.
Russian President Putin is in the forefront of the BRICS pushback against US dominance in the world economy. For instance, he is on record that intra-BRICS economic interactions should take place in national currencies increasingly. This applies in particular to trade and investment. Speaking up also for an ‘independent settlement and depository system’ within BRICS, Putin said that the creation of such a system would make ‘currency transactions faster, more efficient and safer’ among BRICS countries.
If the above and other intra-BRICS arrangements come to be implemented, the world’s dependence on the dollar would steadily shrink with a corresponding decrease in the power and influence of the US in world affairs.
The US’ current hurry to bring the world to the negotiating table on economic issues, such as the tariff question, is evidence that the US has been fully cognizant of emergent threats to its predominance. While it is in an effort to impress that it is ‘talking’ from a position of strength, it could very well be that it is fearful for its seemingly number one position on the world stage. Its present moves on the economic front suggest that it is in an all-out effort to keep its global dominance intact.
At this juncture it may be apt to observe that since ‘economics drives politics’, a less dollar dependent world could very well mark the beginning of the decline of the US as the world’s sole super power. One would not be exaggerating by stating that the tariff issue is a ‘pre-emptive’, strategic move of sorts by the US to remain in contention.
However, the ‘writing on the wall’ had been very manifest for the US and the West for quite a while. It is no longer revelatory that the global economic centre of gravity has been shifting from the West to the East.
Asian scholarship, in particular, has been profoundly cognizant of the trends. Just a few statistics on the Asian economic resurgence would prove the point. Parag Khanna in his notable work, ‘The Future is Asian’, for example, discloses the following: ‘Asia represents 50 percent of global GDP…It accounts for half of global economic growth. Asia produces and exports as well as imports and consumes more goods than any region.’
However, the US continues to be number one in the international power system currently and non-Western powers in particular would be erring badly if they presume that the economic health of the world and connected matters could be determined by them alone. Talks with the US would not only have to continue but would need to be conducted with the insight that neither the East nor the West would stand to gain by ignoring or glossing over the US presence.
To be sure, any US efforts to have only its way in the affairs of the world would need to be checked but as matters stand, the East and the South would need to enter into judicious negotiations with the US to meet their legitimate ends.
From the above viewpoint, it could be said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the most perceptive of Southern leaders at the BRICS Summit. On assuming chairmanship of the BRICS grouping, Modi said, among other things: ‘…During our chairmanship of BRICS, we will take this forum forward in the spirit of people-centricity and humanity first.’
People-centricity should indeed be the focus of BRICS and other such formations of predominantly the South, that have taken upon themselves to usher the wellbeing of people, as opposed to that of power elites and ruling classes.
East and West need to balance each other’s power but it all should be geared towards the wellbeing of ordinary people everywhere. The Cold War years continue to be instructive for the sole reason that the so-called ordinary people in the Western and Soviet camps gained nothing almost from the power jousts of the big powers involved. It is hoped that BRICS would grow steadily but not at the cost of democratic development.
Features
Familian Night of Elegance …

The UK branch of the Past Pupils Association of Holy Family Convent Bambalapitiya went into action last month with their third grand event … ‘Familian Night of Elegance.’ And, according to reports coming my way, it was nothing short of a spectacular success.
This dazzling evening brought together over 350 guests who came to celebrate sisterhood, tradition, and the deep-rooted bonds shared by Familians around the world.
Describing the event to us, Inoka De Sliva, who was very much a part of the scene, said:

Inoka De Silva: With one of the exciting prizes – air ticket to Canada and back to the UK
“The highlight of the night was the performance by the legendary Corrine Almeida, specially flown in from Sri Lanka. Her soulful voice lit up the room, creating unforgettable memories for all who attended. She was backed by the sensational UK-based band Frontline, whose energy and musical excellence kept the crowd on their feet throughout the evening.”

Corrine
Almeida:
Created
unforgettable
memories
Inoka, who now resides in the UK, went on to say that the hosting duties were flawlessly handled by the ever popular DJ and compere Vasi Sachi, who brought his trademark style and charisma to the stage, while his curated DJ sets, during the breaks, added fun and a modern vibe to the atmosphere.

Mrs. Rajika Jesuthasan: President of the UK
branch of the Past Pupils Association of
Holy Family Convent Bambalapitiya
(Pix by Mishtré Photography’s Trevon Simon
The event also featured stunning dance performances that captivated the audience and elevated the celebration with vibrant cultural flair and energy.
One of the most appreciated gestures of the evening was the beautiful satin saree given to every lady upon arrival … a thoughtful and elegant gift that made all feel special.
Guests were also treated to an impressive raffle draw with 20 fantastic prizes, including air tickets.
The Past Pupils Association of Holy Family Convent Bambalapitiya, UK branch, was founded by Mrs. Rajika Jesuthasan née Rajakarier four years ago, with a clear mission: to bring Familians in the UK together under one roof, and to give back to their beloved alma mater.
As the curtain closed on another successful Familian celebration, guests left with hearts full, and spirits high, and already counting down the days until the next gathering.
Features
The perfect tone …

We all want to have flawless skin, yet most people believe that the only way to achieve that aesthetic is by using costly skin care products.
Getting that perfect skin is not that difficult, even for the busiest of us, with the help of simple face beauty tips at home.
Well, here are some essential ways that will give you the perfect tone without having to go anywhere.
* Ice Cubes to Tighten Skin:
Applying ice cubes to your skin is a fast and easy effective method that helps to reduce eye bags and pores, and makes the skin look fresh and beautiful. Using an ice cube on your face, as a remedy in the morning, helps to “revive” and prepare the skin.
* Oil Cleansing for Skin:
Use natural oils, like coconut oil or olive oil, to cleanse your skin. Oils can clean the face thoroughly, yet moisturise its surface, for they remove dirt and excess oil without destroying the skin’s natural barriers. All one has to do is pick a specific oil, rub it softly over their face, and then wipe it off, using a warm soak (cloth soaked in warm water). It is a very simple method for cleaning the face.
* Sugar Scrub:
Mix a tablespoon of sugar with honey, or olive oil, to make a gentle scrub. Apply it in soft, circular motions, on your face and wash it off after a minute. This helps hydrate your skin by eliminating dead skin cells, which is the primary purpose of the scrub.
* Rose Water Toner:
One natural toner that will soothe and hydrate your skin is rose water. Tightening pores, this water improves the general texture of your skin. This water may be applied gently to the face post-cleansing to provide a soothing and hydrating effect to your face.
* Aloe Vera:
It is well known that aloe vera does wonders for the skin. It will provide alleviation for the skin, because of its calming and moisturising effects. The application of aloe vera gel, in its pure form, to one’s skin is beneficial as it aids in moisturising each layer, prevents slight skin deformity, and also imparts a fresh and healthy look to the face. Before going to bed is the best time to apply aloe vera.
* Water:
Staying hydrated, by drinking plenty of water (06 to 08 cups or glasses a day), helps to flush toxins and its functions in detoxification of the body, and maintenance the youthfulness of the skin in one’s appearance.
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