Sarada De Silva appointed as WTO-ITC Consultant

Sarada De Silva has been appointed as a Consultant by the International Trade Centre of the World Trade Organisation (WTO-ITC) ‘MARKUP’ Project for the Spice Sector of the East African Community funded by the EU.  

Sarada de Silva is a Past President of the National Chamber of Exporters Sri Lanka. He is a Founder Chairman of the Spice Council of Sri Lanka and Cinnamon Training Academy and has over 45 years of experience in the Spice sector. 

As a third generation in the cinnamon industry, he has contributed immensely to the development of the Spice sector in Sri Lanka, especially cinnamon, utilising his knowledge experience gathered over the years.

He has been in the forefront in setting up the ‘Cinnamon Training Academy’ of Sri Lanka, and also in obtaining international and local funding to support many activities in the sector, particularly in regard to skills development and quality improvements with ISO, GAP and GMP standards.

As a Sectoral Head of the Spice sector at the NCE, he has been in the forefront in highlighting issues related to the sector for their resolution.  

The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.

MARKUP sets out to support East African SMEs who are specialised in a variety of subsectors, and products including Avocado, Cocoa, Coffee, Horticulture products, Spices and Tea. 

Interventions will focus on the identification and elimination of barriers to trade; improving competitiveness; strengthening of value addition for selected priority products; ensuring compliance with international regulations; providing access to Trade Finance Ventures; and supporting the identification of opportunities for Trade and Foreign Direct Investments.

The 35 million euro MARKUP (2018- 2021) initiative is funded by the EU under the 11th European Development Fund. The program will be implemented over a four-year period under the overall supervision of the Secretariat of the EAC. Two of its most important technical implementation partners are the International Trade Centre (ITC) of the WTO, UNIDO and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

MARKUP aligns very closely with the regional integration priorities of the East African Community. It aims to build the competitiveness of MSMEs across the region, and supports them to increase production, take advantage of market-access opportunities, and to create more Value Addition. 

There is a growing demand in the EU for the products produced in the EAC. MARKUP will capitalise on this, and will enable the creation of sustainable market linkages between Europe and the EAC, contribute to job creation as well as inclusive development in the region. 

In addition, MARKUP will also enhance the capacity of the EAC to participate, and take full advantage of the other Free Trade Arrangements that are being concluded such as the Tripartite COMESA-EAC-SADC Free Trade Area, and the Africa Continental Free Trade Area.

Crucial to the success of MARKUP will be the successful inclusion of women and youth in trade. In most East African countries, women and youth account for a large proportion of the labour force. However, their active participation is limited.  

Central to MARKUP will be improvement of the compliance of SMEs with international quality and standards requirements. Further improving awareness, and transparency related to Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures, as well as on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) will enable participating SMEs to obtain Product Certifications that will ease their efforts to enter foreign markets.