State-run Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) has initially selected 14 products under its one district one product policy aiming to diversifying the country’s exports. The products that have been selected are: organic tea, crab, leather and leather goods, handicraft, handloom items, pineapples, fresh vegetables, agro-processed items, fish, herbal products, clay tiles, rubber, perfume and betel leaf.

The EPB is planning to sit with both public and private sector representatives soon to discuss the next course of action in this connection. The prospects of seven agricultural products organic tea, crab, fresh vegetable, agro-processed items, fish, herbal products and perfume will be discussed at the meeting. The rest of the selected products will be taken up for discussion later.

Meanwhile, the EPB has sought cooperation of funding agencies, including Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA) and South Asia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF), in this regard. Representatives of the JETRO have already met the vice-chairman of the EPB for discussion on the issue. Earlier, the government took the move after evaluating the experience of Japan and Thailand that have been able to increase export earnings significantly through implementing such a concept.