In the aftermath of the successful Lanka-Belarus Trade talks on 09 July in Colombo,  the first ever trade breakthrough comes in, as revealed on Thursday and the first beneficiary of Belarus’ is no less than Lankan exporter. 

Minister Bathiudeen whois currently on a private tour to Qatar, was responding to the latest developments in Lanka-Belarus Bilateral Trade.

According to the Department of Commerce of Sri Lanka (DoCSL), the Government of Belarus has removed Sri Lanka from the list of its off-shore countries with effect from 26 November 2014. The direct benefit of this delisting is that Lankan exporters will no longer be subject to the payment of 15% tax on remittance of their export earnings back to Sri Lanka.

Belarus ranked as the 77 export destination of Sri Lanka in 2013, and it has progressed from its lower rank at 81 (2011). Less than 1% (0.05%) of our total exports are taken by Belarus. This shows that Belarus is still a virgin market for Sri Lanka with unrealised potentials. As for Lanka’s bilateral trade, total trade reported at $14.24 Mn in 2013. 94% of Sri Lanka’s exports to Belarus are tea.

Following the visit of  the president of Sri Lanka to Belarus in August 2013, a Joint Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation was established and its first meeting was held in July 2014 in Colombo, where the Sri Lanka’s request on this was conveyed to the representatives of the Government of Belarus.(KH)