COLOMBO, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The European Union Foreign and Trade Ministers Council on Thursday approved Sri Lanka's application to obtain key trade concessions known as the Generalized Scheme of Preference Plus (GSP Plus), the government information department said here.
Sri Lanka's Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha De Silva confirmed in a message that the Council of Ministers of the EU had approved Sri Lanka's GSP plus application which would be effective in less than two weeks. "It's now done. Effective in less than two weeks," De Silva said on his official twitter account.
Earlier last month a motion taken up in the EU Parliament to not grant Sri Lanka the GSP Plus was defeated with 436 members voting against the motion and 119 in favor.
Sri Lanka lost access to the EU GSP Plus since 2009 over human rights related issues.
Sri Lanka's apparel sector took a severe beating as a result of losing access to the EU GSP Plus trade concession.
The new government, which took office in 2015, began talks with the EU to regain GSP Plus and agreed to meet most of the conditions to obtain the facility.
Sri Lanka reapplied for the EU GSP facility in June last year.
