“South Asian Country Study on Products with Regional Trade Potential and Associated Non-tariff Barriers, with Special Focus on Women Micro Small Medium Enterprises (WMSMEs) – A case of Sri Lanka”

IPS together with the United Nations Development Programme Asia-Pacific Regional Centre (UNDP APRC) has initiated a research study on “South Asian Country Study on Products with Regional Trade Potential and Associated Non-tariff Barriers, with Special Focus on Women Micro Small Medium Enterprises (WMSMEs) – A case of Sri Lanka”. The main objective of this study is to identify the constraints faced by WMSMEs in Sri Lanka in operating and expanding their businesses including issue related to access to regional markets such as non-tariff/trade facilitation linked barriers and provide policy and programme recommendations to ease/manage the constrains identified. Spices and Coir have been identified as products with regional trade potential and an advisory Committee comprising key stake holders was set up with the intention of getting guidance and technical input to the IPS research team to ensure the policy relevance and quality of research outputs. This study is part of a larger regional study led by UNDP Asia- Pacific Regional Centre (APRC) with funding from AusAID and the final regional report is expected to be published.