The Sri Lanka Embassy in Beijing, is promoting Sri Lanka as an investment destination for Chinese leather good manufacturers.

The Sri Lanka Embassy in Beijing has initiated a programme to promote Sri Lankas leather industry in the city of Baigou, in Hebei Province where the leather industry is prominently established in China. The Baigou city is famous for its bag industry and is hailed as the City of Bags in China, said a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

Investors are being told to invest in Sri Lanka to benefit from the EUs GSP+ scheme. The EU has slapped a 19.4% anti-dumping duty on Chinese goods, on top of normal customs duties. But under the GSP+, Sri Lankan leather goods and footwear can be exported to the EU at zero duty. The Sri Lankan government has also decided to allow duty free imports of raw materials, machinery and equipment used for processing and manufacturing leather goods and leather.

Chinese manufacturers are being told to make use of this opportunity to open manufacturing plants in Sri Lanka. In addition, the Sri Lankan embassy says the Indo-Lanka and Pakistan-Sri Lanka free trade agreements also provide preferential market access into 2 large markets in the region. The governments infrastructure drive, and Sri Lankas strategic geographic location are also presented as incentives to invest in Sri Lanka.