Sri Lanka hopeful of EU trade concessions

COLOMBO, Nov. 7 -- A senior Sri Lankan minister said on Saturday that the government was hopeful that the European Union (EU) would extend its preferential trade concessions known as the GSP+ for its garments exports from the island.

"We are hopeful of GSP+ continuing as a result of our human rights action plan which will be submitted next week," Mahinda Samarasinghe, the minister of Human Rights told reporters.

The EU concessions benefit the island's garment industry which accounts for over 30 percent of its exports.

European Union importers pay less or no tariff for Sri Lankan garments as a result of the GSP+.

However, the continuation of the facility is in danger beyond 2010 as Sri Lanka's human rights and labor rights records have been called into question by the EU.

Sri Lanka has refused to subject itself to a scrutiny by the EU on its human rights record claiming it impinged on the island's sovereignty.

The government claims EU acts under the pressure of the pro-Tamil Tiger rebel lobby in Europe to clamp Sri Lanka after it successfully crushed the three-decade-old rebellion of Tamil Tiger rebels for a separate state.

Samarasinghe said the National Action Plan would cover wide areas of rights issues such as torture, disappearances, extra judicial killings and labor rights.

The EU had asked Sri Lanka to make its observations and comments on the EU report before Nov. 6 if it wants the trade facility to be continued.