EU parliamentary team to visit Sri Lanka to evaluate results of accession to GSP+

A team of European Parliament members will visit Sri Lanka tomorrow (4 April), staying until Friday (6 April) to evaluate the first results of Sri Lanka’s accession to the Generalised System of Preferences plus (GSP+) scheme and to enhance their dialogue with Sri Lanka on the remaining challenges, the European Union Delegation in Sri Lanka said today.

The EU Embassy said the mission will comprise members of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA), including the Standing Rapporteur for South Asia, Sajjad Karim of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) party.

The mission of INTA Members aims to follow-up on Sri Lanka’s commitments made in the process of applying for GSP+ status, which was granted to Sri Lanka in May 2017.

The visit allows not only to monitor the implementation of the 27 GSP+ relevant international conventions on the spot, but also to have a first assessment of the impact of the EU’s generous unilateral trade preferences on trade and investment relations between the EU and Sri Lanka, INTA said.

It also feeds into INTA’s ongoing work on GSP implementation, following its public hearing on GSP and the publication of the bi-annual GSP implementation report by the Commission.

The INTA Delegation is expected to have high-level meetings with the relevant Ministers, Parliamentarians, as well as with representatives of business, civil society and international organisations in Colombo.

In addition to Sajjad Karim, the INTA delegation includes Jan Zahradil of ECR, Paul Rübig of European People’s Party (EPP), David Martin of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), Tiziana Beghin of Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) and Franz Obermayr of Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF).