Rishad hails US decision

Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen welcomed United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk’s announcement on 29 June that the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) country practice review on worker rights in Sri Lanka has closed without any change to Sri Lanka’s GSP trade benefits.

“This is also a confirmation of the strong assurance given to me by Michael Delaney, Assistant United States Trade Representative for South and Central Areas Affairs on 13 June in Colombo,” Minister added.

Last month the visiting Assistant United States Trade Representative for South and Central Areas Affairs, Michael Delaney assured Minister Bathiudeen of a positive outcome from the US SP review.

“As you know we have an outstanding petition filed by an American trade union concerning Sri Lanka workers’ rights which we have been discussing with the Government of Sri Lanka and stakeholders for a long time. We are now aware that there has been considerable progress with regard to workers’ rights of Sri Lanka in recent years. I wanted to become more familiar with recent developments in Sri Lanka so now I can go back to Washington with this information that the US government can take into consideration in dealing with the GSP petition against Sri Lanka,” Delaney was quoted as saying by Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

In 2011, exports to US worth $ 2.14 billion accounted for 20% of Sri Lanka’s total with apparels dominating with $ 1.59 billion. Another Sri Lankan product-line in demand in the US market is the ‘rubber based product’ category.