Sri Lanka clears last hurdle for EU trade concessions

Sri Lanka today said that it has cleared the last hurdle to regain key trade concessions from the European Union for its export to the 28-member bloc.
Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva said the facility known as Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) Plus would be in effect for Sri Lankan exporters within two months.
"We have cleared the last hurdle after a process which started in January," he said.
The trade concessions were pulled by the EU in 2010 due to Sri Lanka's poor human rights record. Since then the government has campaigned to regain the benefits for a number of products entering the EU markets.

Before the EU Council approval for the concessions, Sri Lanka faced a major obstacle at the EU Parliament against the trade concession when a resolution was moved against it being granted.
Sri Lanka won the vote in Brussels with 436 members voting against the motion, 119 in favour and 22 abstentions.
Sri Lanka is EU's 54th trading partner. Sri Lanka's exports to the EU in 2015 were valued at 2.6 billion Euro, according to the statistics.