APITR focuses on inclusive trade in Asia Pacific

The ‘Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2013’ (APITR) was launched on Tuesday at a conference organised by the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) and Asia Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT).

The report which reflects the importance of making trade and investment more inclusive in the Asia-Pacific region is published by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (UN-ESCAP), under the theme ‘Turning the Tide: Towards Inclusive Trade and Investment’. Senior Minister for International Monetary Co-operation and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning, Sarath Amunugama was the chief guest.

IPS, Executive Director, Dr. Saman Kelegama emphasised the importance of equally distributing the benefits of growth and development, to achieve sustainable growth.

He said that strengthening trade and investment flows, improving productive capacity, connectivity, inclusiveness in financial infrastructure are some of the aspects which should be included in an inclusive growth strategy for a trade dependent nation such as Sri Lanka.

Dr. Kelegama presented a copy of the report to Minister Amunugama, formally launching the APTIR 2013 in Sri Lanka. The Minister reiterated the importance of generating and developing domestic production, having country specific proposals for trade and investment along with good managerial talent and on the significance of crossing the boundaries between goods and services.

He stressed the importance of looking at niche markets, value addition and specialised services for Sri Lanka to become a different model of trade and investment.

Key highlights of the ‘Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2013’ were presented by IPS Research Officers, Ms. Suwendrani Jayaratne and Ms. Dharshani Premaratne.

A panel discussion focusing on the drivers of greater inclusiveness in the Sri Lankan economy was also held. It was led by Board of Investment, Executive Director, Research and Policy Advocacy, Dr. Nihal Samarappuli, Senior Lecturer, Economics Department, Colombo University, Dr. M. Ganeshamoorthy and Senior Economist at Hayleys, Deshal de Mel.

The importance of having global links and partnerships with buyer countries which will bring about access to markets and technologies, importance of infrastructure development with regard to extending to new supply catchment areas thereby bringing more people into the production networks and buyer driven chains that would contribute towards inclusivity in trade and development in Sri Lanka, were some of the factors that were discussed.