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EU team here tomorrow: Lanka to seek enhanced quota under GSP+ scheme
View(s):By Damith Wickramasekara and Mimi Alphonsus
Sri Lanka will request the European Union (EU) to increase the country’s quota granted under the GSP+ scheme during talks with a delegation due to arrive in the country tomorrow, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told the Sunday Times.
He said that with such an increase the government hoped to lessen the adverse impact of the high US tariffs on Sri Lanka’s exports. The tariffs currently stand at 10 percent.
The EU is Sri Lanka’s second-largest export destination, with exports of €2.7 billion in 2024. Around 85% of these exports are goods that enjoy duty-free access to the EU market through GSP+ (Generalised System of Preferences). Textiles, fisheries, tea, rubber and gems are among Sri Lankan exports that benefit from the GSP+ facility. “We will ask the EU team what we need to do to increase our exports under GSP+,” Minister Herath stated.
The EU’s GSP+ Monitoring Mission will be in Sri Lanka from April 28 to May 7 “to take stock of progress on the fulfilment of conditions linked to the granting of GSP+ trade preferences,” the EU Delegation in Colombo said.
The government’s discussions with the EU’s Monitoring Mission will focus on three key factors: labour, good governance, and bribery and corruption, Minister Herath explained.
Fisheries Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekar said he was hopeful of a positive outcome. During talks with the delegation, he said he would take up the issue of bottom trawling by Indian fishermen in Sri Lanka’s waters.
The EU team will also meet trade unions and business associations.
Joint Apparel Association Forum General Secretary Yohan Lawrence expressed confidence in Sri Lanka’s progress on GSP+ conditions. “The apparel sector has a high standard and many certifications,” he said, “GSP+ is very important to our sector.”
Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees’ Union joint secretary Anton Marcus said workers were not seeing the benefits of GSP+ trickle down. “One of the conditions of GSP+ is collective bargaining. But in the past 46 years, there has only been one collective agreement in the apparel sector.”
He said that during talks with the EU team, he would raise issues of union busting and the lack of collective bargaining.
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