Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera said today that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is trying to distort facts regarding the GSP+ concession.
The Minister said this in a statement made in response to the comment made by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa regarding the GSP+ concession.
Minister Samaraweera said that by saying that the ‘Government should not create unrealistic expectations about GSP +’ former President Rajapaksa is saying that obtaining GSP+ concession is trivial since Sri Lanka is very close to passing the threshold of an upper middle income country.
‘A country has to be classified as ‘upper middle income’ by the World Bank for three consecutive years in order to be no longer eligible for the GPS+’ he said.
‘Even if Sri Lanka was to reach that threshold tomorrow, we would still have access to the advantaged of GSP+ for three years, and for one additional year after the decision is taken to withdraw the benefit’ the Minister said.
Minister Samaraweera said that Rajapaksa cannot acknowledge that the Unity Government has managed to obtain a formidable boost to Sri Lanka’s economy, in application of Article 4(1) of the GSP+ regulation of 2012, for four years.
The Minister said by the end of these four years the European Union will show growth recovery.
‘With less unemployment and more consumer demands, this is the moment to join in and enhance partnership with the European Union’ the Minister said.
Furthermore Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that the statement made by the former President saying that GSP+ puts Sri Lanka under the supervision of the EU is absurd.
‘By committing to a number of universal human rights principles, we do nothing that was not already recommended by Sri Lankan people who came before the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to give their input and views. Protecting every citizen from torture is not an alien imposition’ Minister Samaraweera said.
In addition to this, Minister Samaraweera said that Mahinda Rajapaksa failed to retain the GSP+ facility by misjudgments made by his advisors who advised not to implement the 2011 recommendations of the LLRC, which he himself appointed to protect citizens from torture, criminalized disappearances and fully investigate cases of human rights violation.
‘We know very well how Rajapaksa and his advisors tried until the last minute to retain the GSP+ facility in 2010 and lost’ he said.
The Minister said that the GSP+ system is a partnership that helps our nation to gain it’s due place once again in the international stage to stand shoulder to shoulder with the international community.
‘On the contrary, we feel stronger when our laws reflect the best of global humanism and when our citizens benefit from the best law enforcement’ Minister Samaraweera said.