GSP Plus work commences

Lanka commences GSP+ process with EU

•  Discussions get wider, includes trade call
• Bilateral trade now almost at $5Bn

As bilateral trade between EU and Sri Lanka edged to $5Bn mark, Sri Lanka has commenced its talks on the recovery of the GSP Plus from EU on 24 March in Colombo, strengthened by previous positive vibes from EU-and 24 March talks were so comprehensive, it involved even technical trade capacity support to Sri Lanka from the EU.

On 18 March (HE) David Daly (EU Ambassador to Sri Lanka) who met Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen at EDB, revealed: “I am pleased to inform you that the EU Trade Working Group (TWG), a senior delegation on GSP Plus led by a very senior trade official of EU, will be here from 23 March onwards and the GSPPlus discussions will start on 24 March. We should celebrate that through next week’s TWG, we have started the discussion process.”

After the conclusion of the full day’s session between 8 member EU delegation and Sri Lankan officials on 24 March, a joint statement was issued -which is reproduced below:

“The EU-Sri Lanka Working Group on Trade and Economic Cooperation met on 24 March 2015 in Colombo. The meeting, held in a friendly and constructive atmosphere, was co-chaired by Mr. R.D.S. Kumararatne, Director General of Commerce, for Sri Lanka and Mr. Marc Vanheukelen, Director, European Commission Directorate General for Trade, for the EU.

Sri Lanka and the EU discussed issues related to promoting bilateral trade and investment. In particular they started the process that may lead to the re-admission of Sri Lanka to the status of GSP+ under the European Union’s new GSP regulation. They also discussed bilateral matters related to investment facilities, import duties and fishery exports from Sri Lanka to the EU.

The EU and Sri Lanka also reviewed progress in the WTO Doha Development Agenda negotiations and expressed their hope that the Trade Facilitation Agreement would enter into force at the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference in December 2015.

Sri Lanka’s proposal for possible funding in the areas of trade-related capacity building & development support for SMEs’ trade competitiveness in regional & EU markets under EU’s Regional Programming for Asia Multiannual Indicative Programme 2014-2020 is being favorably considered by the European Union.”

According to the Department of Commerce of Sri Lanka, bilateral trade between EU and Sri Lanka exceeded the $5 Bn mark in 2014 for the first time at $5.07 Bn, increasing by 3.6% from 2013’s $4.9 Bn. 69% of 2014 EU-Lanka trade were Lankan exports to EU. Apparel was the biggest export item in 2014 at $2.16 Bn growing by 10.5% (YoY), second biggest ‘rubber tyres & tubes’ at $208 Mn and third biggest (interestingly) was ‘frozen fish’ at $90 Mn.