‘Country met all criteria for GSP Plus’

Hiran H. Senewiratne

Director General of the Department of Commerce in the Export Development and International Trade G Senadira said they have applied for an extension of the GSP Plus from the European Union (EU) since the country has met all required criteria.

“We presented a comprehensive report/document to the EU for the purpose of extending the facility and its investigations are in progress. Based on their decision, we are already to take the next step,” Senadira told the Daily News.

He said the EU’s decision on this matter is likely to be conveyed before the end of this year and we will be able to follow it up by them.

However, the EU has said Sri Lanka must comply with the International Covenants of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the country has already signed and endorsed to it.

The Government is trying its level best to protect human rights abuses by the forces and other elements in the country.

Sri Lanka has complied with the criteria on good governance,work ethics, environmental protection which are matters of concern to the EU,industry sources said.

Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) Director General Rohan Masekorala said that at present the Apparel sector is facing a challenge due to global recession but would bounce back in the future as the major players in the industry were well geared to the change.

He said that GSP Plus is a major to contend with as it is a trade concession by EU to help Sri Lanka’s garment industry, which was a top foreign earner last year and has boosted export revenue since mid 2005.

The scheme helped Sri Lanka to net a record $ 2.9 billion from EU market last year- 37.5 percent of our total export income.

Masekorala said the extension of the GSP Plus for Sri Lanka will offer protection to more than 280,000 direct and one million indirect employees in the country.

Therefore, it is absolutely necessary for Sri Lanka to extend this trade arrangement.

He said that the tax concession granted was around 10 percent across the board the EU has said it’s between eight and 18 percent the benefit accrued to the apparel industry is around US$ 150 million.

Garments last year were the country’s top source of foreign exchange earning US $ 2.5 billion and followed by tea exports, which brought in $ 1 billion. In 2007, Sri Lanka exported US$ 2.8 billion worth of products to the EU.

Around US$ 1.4 billion of this was apparels, the majority of which was exported under the GSP+. In other words, the apparels sector is the biggest beneficiary of the GSP+, though other sectors like fisheries and industrial products also use the facility.