Government to seek public views on proposed National Trade Policy

Sri Lanka will be implementing a National Trade Policy for the people by maintaining price stability and eliminating monopolies and oligopolies.

Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena said that an expert committee has been appointed to formulate the National Trade Policy, adding that the Committee will obtain views and recommendations from the public within the next few weeks on the new National Trade Policy.

Minister Gunawardena stated this at the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Trade affairs held recently at the Parliament.

Professor Sampath Amaratunga, the Chairman of the University Grants Commission, has been appointed as the Chairman of this Expert Committee.

The Minister informed the Committee that a Co-operative Policy will be formulated to address the shortcomings in the cooperative sector expeditiously.

The need for a feasibility study when the Lanka Sathosa outlets are newly opened was also raised in the Committee. It was also discussed at the meeting that corruption and irregularities are common in the Lanka Sathosa and that this situation could be changed by computerizing all the outlets.

The committee also discussed the need for an investigation at the ministry level to look into these allegations of corruption and irregularities.

The Minister said that when purchasing goods for Lanka Sathosa, it is done only through manufacturers and direct importers and that methodology has been successful at present.

It was revealed at the committee meeting that requests have been made to open 57 new Sathosa outlets and these outlets will be established expeditiously. Also, the Committee was of the view that these outlets should be established under the same format.

In September 2020, the Cabinet gave approval for the formulation of a national trade policy.

The Government has said they will revisit proposed Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with several countries including China and the controversial Economic Technology Cooperation Agreement (ECTA) with India, afterwards.