Sri Lankan products have a promising future due to its quality and brand appeal and has attracted a record number of visitors to the country’s stalls which have increased considerably over the years, said a top official of the organising committee of the 5th China–South Asia Expo held at the Kuming City of Yunnan Province of China.
The triple event namely, the 5th China–South Asia Expo (CSAE), the 25th China Kuming Import and Export Fair and the first China-South Asia Cooperation Forum kicked off in the Kuming City on June 14. The events will conclude on Tuesday, June 19.
“The occasion to showcase Sri Lankan products have been grabbed by its entrepreneurs who have seen business volumes doubling over the years. This year’s exposition too will trickle down a large number of benefits such as building new partnerships and promoting products in China,” the official said.
Deputy Minister of Commerce of China, Gao Yan speaking at the inauguration of CSAE on Thursday said the Belt and Road (BR) initiative of China will open up a plethora of opportunity for South Asian countries who would benefits from the economic dividends of the initiative. “The Expo forum is a good platform for building mutual trust, cooperation and collaboration between the South Asian region and China to develop key sectors such as infrastructure, agriculture, science and technology, education and health,” he said. Sri Lanka has planned to draw up a China market entry strategy to boost exports. According to the Export Development Board, the strategy will be to enhance exports of pre identified products. Currently Sri Lanka’s exports to China comprise apparels, tea, rubber, coconut and spices. China emerged last year as the sixth largest market for Lankan exports with a record value of $ 415 million, up $ 108 percent from 2016.
However, the increase is partly due to the re-shipment of boats originally bought from China for a Chinese assisted development project.
Sri Lankan exhibitors ranging from tea, handicraft, gem and jewellery, batik and spices were confident that sales and more particularly building links and forming agents to promote Sri Lankan products in China will grow this year following their presence at the export forum in China.
Blue Diamonds PLC, CEO Wasantha Chandrakumara said the future for Sri Lankan gem and jewellery will remain promising and the most lucrative venture bringing in the much needed foreign exchange to the country.
“However, our concern is about the 15 percent tax on gold which is a huge drawback to boost trade which has already felt the hit with the implementation of the new tax policy this year.
“As a result of the tax on gold merchants will prefer to import finished products at a 23 percent tax rather than importing rough gold at a 15 tax and a 2 percent NBT which put together is about 17 percent tax,” he said.
Following the new tax policy for gold imports, the import of rough gold has dropped by around 90 percent.
The other stallholders, even though they were optimistic of gaining new business links, had certain concerns about the location offered to them to exhibit their products which according to them did not look attractive to visitors.
However, many stallholders said they received fresh inquiries for exports and built partnerships for set up agents in China.
Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of China Hu Chunhua said companies from South Asia are welcome to collaborate with Chinese companies and expand trade and investment that will enable le the region to benefit from the economic dividends that trickles down from the partnership.
The theme of this year’s China South Asia Exposition which is ‘Integrating into the Belt and Road Initiative and promoting Win Win cooperation’ is quite fitting as South Asia will stand to benefit from the BR initiative and mutual cooperation with China will strengthened each year through the Export forum.
Trade between China and South Asia has grown exponentially over the years from US$ 97 billion in 2015 to $ 126 billion so far this year, a 31.7 percent increase, the Deputy Minister of Commerce of China Hao said.
He said trade between China and the South Asian region had grown by around 900 percent from the first China South Asia forum held in Kuming City in 2014..
Two way investments between China and South Asia grew from US$ 580 million to $ 1071 billion in 2017 and by end April this year direct investments from China reached $ 11.8 billion.
The number of exhibitors and visitor to the export forum has increased significantly over the years according to an official of the organizing committee. Around 4,000 enterprises from 87 countries were present at this year’s CSAEF.
The seven-day the seven forum centred around cooperation on trade and investment, connectivity and sharing of expertise in various fields between China and South Asia.
The China South Asia Expo is jointly organized by the Ministry of Commerce of China and Yunnan province and co-hosted by South Asian countries.
The China Kuming Import and Export Fair, a regional commodity fair is jointly organized by the Ministry of Commerce and the Yunnan province.
Located in the southwestern frontier of China, Yunnan has land area of 394,100 square kilometers and a population of 47.7 million. The province is poised for accelerated development and during 12th five year plan Yunnan’s GDP grew by 11.1 percent annually and by 9.5 percent in 2017.