Sri Lanka as a trading outpost

THIS piece is penned in the context of global uncertainty around trade.

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The Island is no stranger to trade. In fact in a speech in 1948 in London by C.B.P. Goonetilleke (High Commissioner to the Government of Ceylon) with Sir Oliver Goonetilleke in the Chair was heard to say, “As its position is central, the island is the resort of ships from all parts of India, Persia and Ethiopia, and in like manner many are dispatched from it…from the inner countries (countries east of Cape Cormorin), I mean China, and other emporiums, it receives silk, aloe, cloves, cloth, spices, sandal wood, and whatever else they produce. These it again transmits to the outer ports (those lying west of Cape Cormorin), I mean to Male (Malabar), where the pepper comes; to Caraman (Bombay), where there is brass and sesa mine wood, and materials for dress (for it is also a place of great trade); and to Sindon (Scind), where they get musk; easterly to Persia, the Himaritic coast (Southern Arabia), and Abila. Receiving in return the exports of those emporiums, Taprobane exchanges them in the inner ports sending her own products along with them to each.” (Translation by Tennent).

Cosmas, an Egyptian merchant, thus records an account of Ceylon given to him by a Greek trader named Sopater who visited Ceylon in the company of a Persian. “It is a great island of the ocean lying in the Indian sea, called Sielediba by the Indians, but Taprobane by the Greeks.”

Fast forward to more recent times, countries such as India and China have vigorously pursued production and services for overseas markets.

Special economic zones (SEZ) in China

Special economic zone (SEZ), any of several localities in which foreign and domestic trade and investment are conducted without the authorisation of the Chinese central government in Beijing. Special economic zones are intended to function as zones of rapid economic growth by using tax and business incentives to attract foreign investment and technology.