The Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) has urged the Sri Lankan government to adopt a dedicated, ministry-level architecture for Free Trade Agreement negotiations, citing Vietnam’s transformation of trade policy into a 250 percent apparel export expansion.
In an analysis published Sunday, JAAF said Vietnam’s apparel exports grew from US$13 billion to US$45 billion over the past 15 years, while Sri Lanka’s grew just 58 percent — from US$3.4 billion to US$5.4 billion. Vietnam’s apparel exports are projected to reach US$46 billion in 2025, with the sector running a US$21 billion trade surplus.
Vietnam now has 19 bilateral and multilateral FTAs covering around 60 economies, JAAF said. The network includes the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the EU-Vietnam FTA, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and bilateral deals with the United Kingdom, Israel and the UAE. Vietnam’s trade openness has reached 184 percent of GDP compared with Sri Lanka’s 50-55 percent.
“Vietnam’s negotiation architecture is highly centralized, technically strong, and politically empowered,” JAAF said, noting that Vietnam’s chief trade negotiator sits at deputy-minister level and leads specialised multi-ministry teams.
JAAF’s three core recommendations are that Sri Lanka establish a full-time dedicated resource for FTA identification and negotiation, prioritise agreements with markets that can drive strategic investment alongside export access, and elevate the negotiator role to a politically empowered position.
The analysis lands as Sri Lanka’s apparel sector — which employs about 350,000 people and accounts for 40.7 percent of merchandise exports — faces uncertainty over its U.S. tariff status following the April 2025 reciprocal tariffs. Vietnam has reached a separate agreement with Washington on concessionary tariff rates, JAAF noted, while Sri Lanka has not.
The forum cited Japan as an example of layered access: “where Japan imports apparel from Vietnam, there are not one, but three separate trade agreements between the two countries ensuring a free flow of trade.” JAAF said Sri Lanka could not simply replicate Vietnam’s playbook but must align trade access with investment readiness, infrastructure, skills and sustainability to move up the value chain.
The analysis comes alongside the EU and UNIDO’s recent €7.56 million net-zero apparel initiative and broader concerns about March goods export declines in the apparel and tea sectors.
