The European Union says that re-granting of the GSP+ trade concessions to Sri Lanka will be effected from May 19.

This was announced by Tung-Lai Margue, Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, during a media gathering held in Colombo today.

“This opens huge potential for number of small and medium enterprises as well who may be until now haven’t even thought about the EU market,” said the Ambassador.

He went on to say the government, in order to get the GSP+ back, has made lot of efforts. “May be not enough efforts made and we agree with that.  There are still issues that need to be better tackled by the government. And we are telling them that,” he pointed out. 

“The balance has to be made. We will certainly continue to pressurize the government. As I told you, this is not the end of the process. This is just the beginning of a new type of monitoring,” the Ambassador added.

“I would like this to be clear. We will support the government, but will criticize it when things are going wrong,” he said.  

Ambassador Margue pointed out this will be a key opportunity for the exporters and manufacturers to diversify their exports. “That is something I really encourage them to do, not to stick to traditional trade relations towards member states,” he added.