EU Parliament rejects motion to deny GSP+ for Sri Lanka

Apr 27, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka won the vote in Brussels by 436 against and 119 in favor for the motion to deny GSP plus for Sri Lanka. A group of EU parliamentarians last week forwarded a motion to deny Sri Lanka access to GSP Plus, citing the slow pace of essential reforms in Sri Lanka. Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva, who is currently in Brussels, met number of Parliamentarians to lobby EU counterparts on Sri Lanka’s application for GSP Plus. The European Parliament is made up of 751 members elected in the 28 member states of the enlarged European Union. The EU is Sri Lanka’s biggest export market, accounting for nearly one-third of Sri Lanka’s global exports and in 2015, total bilateral trade amounted to 4.7 billion euros. The GSP+ scheme is designed to help developing countries by granting full removal of tariffs on over 66 percent of tariff lines covering a very wide array of products including, for example, textiles and fisheries. The GSP Regulation sets strict and clear criteria for granting GSP+.