Better scope for Lankan apparels in EU, US - Dutch envoy

A sustainable economic growth can be attained by Sri Lanka beating all economic as well as social woes, in spite of all the internal and external issues that the country is facing, said the Ambassador for the Kingdom of Netherlands in Sri Lanka, Leoni Cuelenaere.

She was addressing the Annual General Meeting of the Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association (SLAEA). The country has emerged from a three-decade war and is resilient to external and internal pressures, she added.

The apparel industry of the country did not get much affected due to the end of the EU GSP Plus trade concessions as it was all set to experience any sort of market condition and it had the backing of strong backward linkages.

Sri Lanka's apparel sector had already earned a name for adopting good trade practices and for offering safe working conditions for its workers; also, the output of this sector meets the highest quality standards.

On account of all these key features, the garment sector of Sri Lanka is in a position to penetrate the EU and the US markets. The apparel industry shares 10 percent of the country's GDP, accounting for US $3.2 billion. (Fibre2fashion)