Friends of Sri Lanka’ Rescues GSP Plus Trade Status for Sri Lanka

23rd October 2009, www.island.lk

A section of European Parliament yesterday thwarted an attempt by some members to suspend Sri Lanka’s GSP plus trade status.

The ‘Friends of Sri Lanka’ in the European Parliament blocked the move in a hurriedly moved Urgency Resolution debated in Strasbourg on Thursday (22 October), Foreign Ministry sources told The Island last night. Sources said that the EU action had coincided with the US State Department move against Sri Lanka targeting the country over the conduct of her armed forces during the war against the LTTE.

The resolution on Sri Lanka was adopted at the European Parliament with 60 members voting for it, zero against and 3 members abstaining .

Sources said that they had also managed to drop critical references to the IDPs as well as the Tissanayagam issues.

The EU resolution was initiated against the backdrop of a report by the European Commission on Sri Lanka’s GSP+ status, which, released on Monday (19 October), concluded that Sri Lanka had failed to fully implement some of the UN convention relevant to the scheme. Although direct reference to GSP+ was removed, the resolution still emphasised the importance that trade would play in Sri Lankan reconstruction.

Geoffrey Van Orden MEP, Chairman of the ‘Friends of Sri Lanka’ group, who participated in the inter-party negotiations on the compromise urgency text, said: "The Friends of Sri Lanka have consistently advocated that it is trade, not aid,that provides the best route to economic recovery and improvement". He has also called on the European Commission to reconsider its findings on Sri Lanka’s GSP+ status and has urged the Sri Lanka government to engage with the Commission on issues of concern.

The Friends of Sri Lanka group also called for greater international humanitarian assistance and urged the international community and the EU Commission in particular, to provide additional support for urgent mine clearance action in northern Sri Lanka. It also called for Sri Lanka now to accede to the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty.

Earlier this month, in collaboration with the Embassy of Sri Lanka, the group hosted a photographic exhibition in the European Parliament entitled: "Sri Lanka: Facets of Post Conflict Development" which highlighted the reconstruction work currently being undertaken by the government in northern Sri Lanka.

While supporting calls for Colombo to strictly adhere to human rights standards, the resolution welcomed the introduction of the Victim and Witness Assistance and Protection Bill in the Sri Lankan Parliament and was happy to note that the Sri Lankan government has developed a National Plan of Action for the Encouragement of Human Rights (NHRAP).

The resolution also recognised that local elections in northern Sri Lanka had been conducted peacefully and called on all Tamil leaders in Sri Lanka to seriously engage in a political settlement and to renounce terrorism once and for all.