South Korean envoy seeks improved bureaucratic efficiency in trade facilitation

Colombo, May 8 (Daily Mirror) - South Korean Ambassador Miyon Lee emphasized yesterday that Sri Lanka should concentrate on upgrading its trade facilitation system while identifying the sequencing.

Making her remarks during a roundtable discussion organized by the Pathfinder Foundation in Colombo, she said bureaucratic matters—from Customs clearance to tariff lines, licensing, and registration—should be streamlined.

“These are very important bureaucratic matters. It is going to be very important whether you will be able to implement all the obligations that have been laid out under the WTO (World Trade Organization) agreements,” she said.

She was responding to a question in this regard. She also said that the single window is part of the overall trade architecture that Sri Lanka has to follow.

“I think that also follows with the FTA (Free Trade Agreement) negotiations. I realize that, of course, the Ministry of Commerce is right now in charge of the FTA negotiations. From Korea's experience, when we had the financial crisis in 1997, we only pursued WTO negotiations. FTA negotiations came after the financial crisis,” she said.

Asked whether South Korea believes in an FTA with Sri Lanka, she said there is the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) in this regard.

She said the APTA arrangement includes China, India, Korea, Nepal, and Mongolia, and that 50 percent of Sri Lankan exports to South Korea benefit from APTA.

“But other than that, there is not much trade between the two countries. That's why I think it is going to be very important for Sri Lanka to pursue RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership),” she said.

South Korea is also part of the RCEP countries.

“Unfortunately, there is not much appetite for upgrading APTA because we already have separate FTAs with India and China,” she said.

“We have huge investments in India and also in ASEAN countries. I think it would be very important that Sri Lanka take that kind of opportunity to see if there is any initiative for Sri Lankan companies to provide supplies to Korean companies working in other countries,” she said.