Sri Lanka’s “Daily Mirror” reported on November 11 that the Sri Lanka Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) made a statement on the 10th, urging the government to speed up free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations and strengthen the apparel industry. and other export industry resilience and global competitiveness.
JAAF pointed out that many Asian countries are well aware of the key role that FTAs can play in promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh and other regional Major apparel exporting countries enjoy preferential international market access through FTAs, so local Sri Lankan apparel companies simply cannot compete with them. In addition, Indonesia, Vietnam, India and other countries have even begun free trade negotiations with the EU.
According to JAAF statistics, Sri Lanka’s top five clothing exporting countries are the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom together account for Sri Lanka’s total clothing exports. 86%. Affected by multiple factors, the local apparel industry is showing signs of slowing down, and the number of foreign orders is even declining. JAAF emphasized that in this context, Sri Lanka must expand apparel exports to China, India, Japan, Australia and other countries to ensure the diversification of export markets. The proposed bilateral free trade agreement between Sri Lanka and China is crucial to removing trade barriers to apparel exports.
