Top Lankan team off to Brussels on EU fisheries ban
View(s):A high level team of officials from Sri Lanka is scheduled to depart for Brussels for decisive talks with the European Union (EU) on the lifting of the fisheries ban imposed on the country. The team will include members from the Prime Ministerial Task Force on EU Fisheries ban.
“A top Lankan delegation on the EU Fisheries ban is scheduled to leave for Brussels on March 30,” Chairman of Seafood Exporters Association of Sri Lanka (SEASL) and Managing Director of Global Sea Foods, Prabhash Subasinghe said during a discussion at the Export Development Board (EDB)
According to a media release issued by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade, Mr Subasinghe was addressing a special discussion between local seafood exporters and International Trade State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe.
The Brussels meeting is expected to be favourable to Sri Lanka and likely to be a “final and decisive meeting with the EU on the fisheries ban,” Mr. Subasinghe said.
Despite the ban, three EU countries- Italy, UK and Netherlands- were among the top five buyers of Lankan seafood in 2014, while the US and Japan topped the list in the same year. Seafood exports fell 35 per cent to US$163.1 million in 2015 from $252.7 million in 2014.
Mr. Senasinghe said Sri Lanka needs to commence an image building campaign since the fisheries ban had damaged the country’s international image as a reputed seafood exporter.
Sri Lanka was banned from exporting fisheries products to the EU in 2014.