and tested mechanisms, which can be used for us to ensure that we get a good deal. our trade negotiators are well aware of these principles and mechanisms and i am sure they will negotiate effectively. now in addition to all the deals which that have been negotiated with india, china and singapore, we have the bilateral fta in goods with pakistan which is being invigorated, and on top of that, of course we have eu gsp plus. if you take all this together, if we are able to conclude these trade negotiations successfully, sri lanka could have access, preferential access, to a market of 3 billion people, which is a massive usp. now i think singapore has preferential access to both china and india. but they don ’ t have preferential access to eu. so there is no other country in the world that i know of, which has preferential access to china, india and page 14 of 17 europe. i know that gsp plus is only for four years. but four years is enough time for us to take advantage of it. so that is a massive opportunity. now, of course this market of three billion people is going to provide opportunities for our own exporters. but on top of that the trick is to use this preferential access to this billion person market to leverage the trade / investment nexus. we can tell people you can come and locate here and sell on a preferential basis to china, india and europe. that is a massively attractive narrative one can offer for potential investors from all over the world. now, if i may talk about some of the policy support offered by the government. the edb has initiated a national export strategy which, as you know, is a collaborative effort between the government and the private sector and it provides a five - year action - oriented frame work for the development of trade and competitiveness. simultaneously, a national trade policy has now been drafted. it is a very neat 20 - page document, very tightly and coherently drafted, and this is the first time we have formulated, in this concise way, the country ’ s trade policy, which for me, is actually very well presented. an anti - dumping bill is also in parliament. it is very important, if we are going to open up some sectors as part of the trade page 15 of 17 agreements. the government is also working on a trade adjustment package with the world bank and the international trade center, in geneva.

want to try to get to. so that ’ s the micro side. in addition, the government is also very much in the forefront in terms of improving the investment climate, investment promotion, trade facilitation and trade policy. so, hopefully we are moving in the right direction in terms of macroeconomic stabilization and the framework is being put in place to improve the investment climate, as well as the trading environment. let me now turn to the matters in hand today and focus on the export sector. i must thank my colleagues in the economic research department of the central bank who helped me to put these remarks together. sustained export growth is crucial for the development of sri lanka, particularly given the relatively small size of its domestic economy. relying on the domestic economy is not sufficient to enhance growth. sri lanka was ahead of its regional peers in liberalizing its page 4 of 17 economy in 1977. the adoption of liberal economic policies, such as private sector development, export networks and encouragement of fdi led to immediate improvements in the foreign trade openness of the country. trade openness which was 36. 4 % in 1977, nearly doubled to 72. 2 % by 1979 while exports which were 18. 7 % of gdp in 1977, increased significantly to 29. 2 % by 1979, just two years after opening of the economy. despite the turn - around in the immediate aftermath of the adoption of liberal policies, sri lanka ’ s international trade performance has been lackluster since then, regressing to levels that were seen during the pre - liberalization era. in 2015, sri lanka ’ s trade openness was 36. 5 % - it was 36. 4 % in 1977. while exports, relative to gdp, declined to 12. 7 % in 2015, having increased to 29. 2 % in 1979, and it rose as high as 32 % in 2000. so we ’ ve gone backwards. and we have gone back to almost where we were in 1977, in terms of trade performance. although the common notion is that there is a by - directional relationship between export and economic growth, this relationship has not been seen in relation to sri lanka. this was especially so between 2000 and 2016, wherein gdp increased by a compounded annual growth rate of 10. 4 %, while exports grew only 4 %. page 5 of 17 sri lanka ’ s economic growth during the past decade or so has mainly been generated by the expansion of domestic demand, rather than increased exports. the tradable