Sri Lanka should promote multilateral free trade agreements (MFTAs) rather than bilateral free trade agreements with other countries in order to get into the global production value chain, a top economist said.
"A large part of global electronic goods, ranging from computers to mobile phones, are now assembled in one country with components brought from different countries. Therefore, Sri Lanka also should get into this type of global value chain by promoting multilateral free trade agreements with other countries, professor at the Australian National University Premachandra Athukorala said recently at a seminar.
He said producing such goods in East Asia for final export to the rest of the world uses the zero tariffs of World Trade Organization's Information Technology Agreement (ITA). Sri Lanka could become an electronics hub in the region if the government promotes multilateral free trade agreements.
Comments
Post a Comment