Sri Lanka

<p>The project, as part of the overall GTEX programme, will help the Sri Lankan textiles and clothing (T&amp;C) sector to stay on top of emerging market requirements for the textiles and clothing (T&amp;C) sector by moving towards greener practices and being able to adhere to strict forthcoming EU regulations for T&amp;C products sold in Europe.&nbsp;</p><p>The project will seek to be transformational, addressing the twin transition of environmental sustainability and digitalization as well as the expected radical shift in demand in Western markets towards &ldquo;green&rdquo; quality products with lower volumes of fast fashion. Without such responsible practices, manufacturers will likely not be able to export anymore to key markets such as the EU, US, or Japan.&nbsp;</p><p>To achieve the said objectives, the prooject will pursue two outcome objectives:</p><ul type="disc"><li>Increased competitiveness of T&amp;C enterprises through sustainable trade</li><li>More effective ecosystem able to direct the T&amp;C sector towards systemic change, addressing sustainability and circularity.</li></ul>

<p><span lang="EN-GB">The surge in demand for sustainable products and the global shift toward sustainable trade and finance have resulted in a proliferation of complex sustainability standards and regulations. These standards, some voluntary and others mandatory, pose challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in understanding and adhering to them. This difficulty affects SMEs&apos; competitiveness and diminishes their impact on productivity, employment, and growth. Failure to comply with these standards jeopardizes market access for SMEs and their supply chains. To address this, the Asian Development Bank&rsquo;s Trade &amp; Supply Chain Finance Program</span><span lang="EN-US">&nbsp;(TSCFP)</span><span lang="EN-GB">, in collaboration with the International Trade Centre, aims to augment the existing self-assessment module of the ITC Standards Map by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to create an SME Standards Navigation Toolkit. This solution supports SMEs by raising awareness of sustainability standards and evaluating their readiness for certification. It offers an online self-assessment to guide them towards certification, providing tailored recommendations for sustainable practices and compliance with relevant standards, ensuring alignment with their business goals. The toolkit will help SMEs&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-US">in ADB developing member countries (DCMs)&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB">increase their awareness of sustainability and regulatory standards, with an initial focus on social and labour sustainability in the textile and apparel sector. As this initiative progresses from its pilot phase, there is a clear pathway for scaling up. Options for expansion include transitioning from a pilot to a fully funded project by ADB.</span></p>

<p>As a means to tackle the worst economic crisis it has seen since its independence in 1948, Sri Lanka aims to expedite the pace of reforms to support economic recovery and growth through a conducive trade facilitation environment. Thus, the Government of Sri Lanka has recognized the need to reprioritize the implementation of the remaining TFA measures to fulfil its obligations to the WTO, meet agency requirements, and address the needs of the private sector.</p><p>Funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the project assists the Government of Sri Lanka in reprioritizing, coordinating, and facilitating the implementation of the WTO TFA commitments as well as providing the necessary support to strengthen the NTFC.</p>

<p>The project focuses on enhancing the textiles and clothing sector in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, and Sri Lanka to meet evolving market demands and adhere to forthcoming EU regulations. This initiative aims to promote greener practices, sustainability, circularity, and digitalization within the T&amp;C industry. By doing so, it ensures the retention of jobs and the creation of higher value-added positions while supporting economic growth and poverty reduction in these countries. The project operates on two key outcomes: enhancing T&amp;C enterprise competitiveness through sustainable trade and fostering a more effective ecosystem capable of driving systemic change, sustainability, and circularity in the sector. This transformation is vital for manufacturers to maintain access to crucial markets like the EU, US, and Japan, as they increasingly demand responsible and high-quality products. Additionally, the program encourages regional and global cooperation, knowledge sharing, and structural changes within the T&amp;C industry.</p>

<p>The United Kingdom Trade Partnerships (UKTP) Programme aims to increase trade from developing countries to the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) by maximizing the benefits of UK and EU Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and the UK&apos;s Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS). The UKTP Programme works in partnership with government agencies, private sector organisations, public sector institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises and other local stakeholders.&nbsp;</p><p>The UKTP Programme is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth &amp; Development Office (FCDO) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland under the UK&apos;s Trade Centre of Expertise. EPA and DCTS countries participating in the UKTP Programme will have access to high quality trade-related technical assistance through sector initiatives. Target beneficiaries will be export-ready SMEs that are committed to securing new trade opportunities with the UK. This project will aim to promote exports through facilitating access to markets, providing advisory services to SMEs to improve their products and business operations, and strengthening business support organizations.&nbsp;</p><p>This project builds upon the lessons learnt and achievements of the UKTP programme since 2019. Previous engagement with SMEs in multiple EPA countries has shown the benefit of selecting export-ready companies with compelling products for UK customers and consumers to participate and of preparing them specifically with UK market entry services to succeed in the UK market.&nbsp;</p><p>This project complements and works in synergy with UKTP in the Pacific. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p>

<p>SheTrades Commonwealth + project aims to foster an enabling business ecosystem by promoting inclusive policy and data and engaging business support organizations, private-sector partners, and women-led businesses in the Commonwealth countries. <span>&nbsp;</span>The project will focus on scalability and immediate results by strengthening the functionalities and diversifying services of the SheTrades Initiative globally through SheTrades Outlook and SheTrades Hubs. This project will build upon the previous phase of the SheTrades Commonwealth project that has been ongoing since 2018, over which time sustainable networks of stakeholders at both ecosystem and SME levels have been built and sustained.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The ITC&rsquo;s Supporting Trade Negotiations and Policy Reform Programme seeks to strengthen the capacity of public and private sector stakeholders to contribute to trade negotiations and policy/regulatory formulation on emerging matters relating to facilitating investment, green trade, e-commerce/digitalization, inclusive trade, sustainable and resilient value chains, industrialization plans, strengthened multilateral and regional integration, and other trade and investment policy issues identified as relevant for a conducive business environment.</p><p>Through this project, ITC will, in relation to the topics mentioned above, seek to (a) generate awareness/understanding of stakeholders through information-sharing/awareness-raising engagements; (b) capacitate stakeholders to engage in informed and inclusive trade and investment policy and regulatory reforms; and (c) support domestic trade and investment policy reforms through technical studies/analyses and related advisory support to facilitate implementation of reforms, including undertaking legislative/regulatory reforms.</p><p>In designing and implementing such support, ITC builds upon the multilateral and regional/bilateral trading frameworks in place to ensure there is a coherent and coordinated approach to domestic trade and investment policy reforms and that measures implemented are aligned with trade commitments undertaken and/or international best practices in this regard.</p><p>The activities implemented under this project will be based on requests received from countries/institutions.<!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><a href="#_msocom_1" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_1"></a><a href="#_msocom_2" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_2"></a><!--[endif]--></p><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><!--[endif]--><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><!--[endif]--><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><!--[endif]--><a href="#_msoanchor_1"></a>

<p><span lang="EN">The project preparation grant, funded by the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), aims to prepare a feasibility study to evaluate the technical, economic and operational feasibility of value addition of five export crops (pineapple, papaya, banana, mango and passion fruit) in Sri Lanka and develop a five year strategic plan and a short-term operations plan for the Lanka Fruit and Vegetable Producers, Processors and Exporters Association (LFVPPEA). Implemented by ITC in close collaboration at national level with LFVPPEA, the one-year project (September 2017 &ndash; 2018) will build close synergies with the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Primary Industries and Ministries of Development Strategies and International Trade, Sri Lanka Export Development Board, in the domain of food safety and trade, as well as private sector associations (Ceylon Chambers of Commerce, Industrial Technology Institute and other relevant organizations).</span><span lang="EN">&nbsp;LFVPPEA and its members are the main beneficiaries of the project along with additional farmers and processors. International buyers and partners are identified to give market opportunities and development of the value chains.</span></p>

<p>AIM for Results is an intervention approach that strengthens the performance, efficiency and effectiveness of TISIs and builds their capacity to provide more effective support to the internationalisation needs of their clients, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).</p><p>AIM stands for Assess, Improve and Measure. It is a holistic and targeted integrated three-step-approach focusing on measurable results in order to improve the managerial, operational and service delivery performance of TSIs. The three pillars of AIM are offered either as a single module or as a complete performance improvement programme, depending on the needs of the beneficiary institutions.</p><p>&nbsp;In 2017, the project aims to improve the operational and managerial performance of 40 TISIs applying ITC&rsquo;s AIM For Results methodology.</p>

<p><a name="_Hlk155357558"><span style="color: rgb(97, 189, 109);">Business support organizations (BSOs) are critical actors in an ecosystem of business support, categorized by the formal and informal connections among service providers that recognises and takes advantage of shared objectives and complementary strengths.</span></a></p><p><span style="color: rgb(97, 189, 109);">ITC has developed a unique centre of excellence in the establishment, improvement and connectedness of business support organizations. This work with BSOs is embedded as a core service area for ITCs strategy and recognises the role that BSOs play in delivering results to all stakeholders through their ability to create scale, systemic change and sustained results</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(97, 189, 109);">In this strategic cycle (22-25), ITC will continue to serve a broad range of BSOs including those active in ITC&rsquo;s priority impact areas of youth entrepreneurship, green trade, digitalisation and gender, with managerial and operational solutions, but also invest more in ecosystem level interventions, and make use of digital channels for efficiency, scale and value.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(97, 189, 109);">This docu<span>ment sets out a 4-year perspective (2022-20225) and 4 strategic objectives for supportive business ecosystems with, specific outputs and activities describing the year-on-year contribution of W1 funding to the strategic core service area 2.</span></span></p>