Sri Lankan officials have responded angrily to reports that the European Union may withdraw the GSP+ concessions that Sri Lanka is currently entitled to.
“Western countries should remember that economic power has shifted from the west to the east,” said Palita Kohona, Sri Lanka’s new ambassador to the UN.
“New markets open up in the east. Our friends China, India, Japan, Korea, Iran … a whole range of countries [can help]," he was quoted as saying.
The comments followed increasing speculation that the GSP plus program, worth around £1 billion in trade concessions, would be cancelled for Sri Lanka.
"Sri Lanka has enough friends around the world. You have to realise that financial resources and power is no longer concentrated in one part of the world” continued Kohona.
"We can handle the loss" said the diplomat, who was also recently refused a visa by the British High Commission.
Dayan Jayatilleka, who was until last month, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, disagreed with Kohona’s comments.
“The cold hard fact is that we need GSP Plus far more than the EU needs to give it to us”, wrote Jayatilleka in a newspaper column.
“It is not our right or entitlement; it is what it is: a concession... conditional upon certain things because we sought eligibility upon certain claims and obtained the concession in the first place upon those claims and promises.”
“Frankly, if you are asking someone else for their money or preferential access to their markets, you cannot really demand it and get stroppy when it is not forthcoming,” Jayatilleka rounded off his column in The Sunday Times in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, The Sunday Times reported that President Mahinda Rajapakse was angered by another Sri Lankan ministry’s comments that “GSP Plus is very unlikely.”
Sri Lanka’s Trade Ministry released a statement admitting it was “very unlikely” that they would keep hold of the GSP Plus concessions, following a damning 130-page report by the European Union.
S Rannugge, secretary in Sri Lanka`s Export Development and International Trade Ministry, told Reuters that the review highlighted human rights abuses and torture allegations carried out by the Sri Lankan Government.
The Sri Lankan President has now intervened in the matter.
At a meeting at Temple Trees, Rajapakse appointed a team of four ministers to make a strong plea for the concessions not be withdrawn. The team comprises Export Development and International Trade Minister G.L. Peiris, Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, Justice Minister Milinda Moragoda and Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama.
“All four must work as a team and give me results,” the President told ministers.
A final decision is due in October.
“Western countries should remember that economic power has shifted from the west to the east,” said Palita Kohona, Sri Lanka’s new ambassador to the UN.
“New markets open up in the east. Our friends China, India, Japan, Korea, Iran … a whole range of countries [can help]," he was quoted as saying.
The comments followed increasing speculation that the GSP plus program, worth around £1 billion in trade concessions, would be cancelled for Sri Lanka.
"Sri Lanka has enough friends around the world. You have to realise that financial resources and power is no longer concentrated in one part of the world” continued Kohona.
"We can handle the loss" said the diplomat, who was also recently refused a visa by the British High Commission.
Dayan Jayatilleka, who was until last month, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, disagreed with Kohona’s comments.
“The cold hard fact is that we need GSP Plus far more than the EU needs to give it to us”, wrote Jayatilleka in a newspaper column.
“It is not our right or entitlement; it is what it is: a concession... conditional upon certain things because we sought eligibility upon certain claims and obtained the concession in the first place upon those claims and promises.”
“Frankly, if you are asking someone else for their money or preferential access to their markets, you cannot really demand it and get stroppy when it is not forthcoming,” Jayatilleka rounded off his column in The Sunday Times in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, The Sunday Times reported that President Mahinda Rajapakse was angered by another Sri Lankan ministry’s comments that “GSP Plus is very unlikely.”
Sri Lanka’s Trade Ministry released a statement admitting it was “very unlikely” that they would keep hold of the GSP Plus concessions, following a damning 130-page report by the European Union.
S Rannugge, secretary in Sri Lanka`s Export Development and International Trade Ministry, told Reuters that the review highlighted human rights abuses and torture allegations carried out by the Sri Lankan Government.
The Sri Lankan President has now intervened in the matter.
At a meeting at Temple Trees, Rajapakse appointed a team of four ministers to make a strong plea for the concessions not be withdrawn. The team comprises Export Development and International Trade Minister G.L. Peiris, Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, Justice Minister Milinda Moragoda and Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama.
“All four must work as a team and give me results,” the President told ministers.
A final decision is due in October.
