Lanka seeks Germany's support to regain EU trade concessions

The government is confident of regaining key trade concessions from the EU this year and has counted on Germany for its support, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said on Tuesday.

Karunanayake told reporters that President Maithripala Sirisena, who just concluded a visit to Germany and Austria last week, had requested support from the German government to regain the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) plus trade concessions which is likely to boost the island nation's slow pace economy.

The EU trade concessions was withdrawn from Sri Lanka after Sri Lanka failed to meet certain conditions on human rights issues in 2010 when Mahinda Rajapakse was the president.  However, the new government led by President Sirisena, who took office in January last year, has taken measures to meet the expectations of the international community on human rights issues. 

"We are confident of regaining the GSP plus and Germany has agreed to give us its fullest support after President Sirisena's request," Karunanayake said.

Meanwhile Karunanayake said that during Sirisena's Europe visit, the Sri Lankan president had invited investors from both Germany and Austria to invest in the country. A high level delegation from Austria and Germany would arrived in Sri Lanka in March and May to explore investment opportunities. (Xinhua)