Final hurdle tomorrow
If all the paperwork is in order and no other questions pending, the European Commission under the signature of the Trade Commissioner will direct a request to publish the restoring of GSP Plus trade preferences to Sri Lanka. The cutoff date has been set for May 15.
The publication will be in the Journal of the European Union and will enter into force on the day following that of its publication. Usually the process takes about a month but a diplomatic initiative by Sri Lanka’s EU Ambassador Rodney Perera has got under way to expedite the process.
Already, Sri Lanka has cleared two hurdles for the restoration of the facility. One was an April 27 European Parliament resolution which sought to deny the facility to Sri Lanka. However, 436 members supported Sri Lanka and only 119 were against. A few days later, four members who voted against changed their votes to positive. That meant Sri Lanka won a record 440 votes.
According to official statistics, the suspension of the GSP Plus in 2010 had a crippling effect on Sri Lanka’s garment industry -- causing the closure of about 25 apparel factories and forcing almost 10,000 people out of employment. It resulted in heavy financial losses.
The impending restoration, Government official said, would create jobs. Earlier this year MAS Group Deputy Chairman Sharad Amalean said Sri Lanka’s large, small and medium Apparel sector would be able to generate more than 20,000 new job opportunities to youth within the next two years.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was at the forefront of initiatives to seek the restoration of the GSP Plus.
The trade preferences will allow Sri Lanka to export more products to its biggest market accounting for nearly a third of the global exports.
In 2015, total bilateral trade amounted to 4.7 billion euros. Under GSP Plus, Sri Lnka qualifies to export its products tax free to the European market. During Sri Lanka’s previous participation in this trade preferences from 2005 to 2009, the share of its exports to the EU region increased progressively from 28 percent to 39 percent.