The island nation of Sri Lanka is hopeful of regaining the European Union’s trade concession Generalised System of Preferences Plus (GSP Plus), minister of industry and commerce Rishad Bathiudeen has said. Under the able economic diplomacy and leadership of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka’s world class apparel industry is becoming increasingly hopeful of regaining the GSP Plus facility, the minister said at the annual Ransalu textile expo held earlier this month in Colombo. “Our government’s timely initiative to regain GSP Plus would likely cancel out any potential effects of TPP on our apparels and I am confident that our world class apparel sector would continue with its strong performance,” Bathiudeen added. Apparel exports earned $4.9 billion for Sri Lanka last year, and the country has set a target of achieving $10 billion by 2025. “The government is also trying to position Sri Lanka among the top 10 high quality apparel manufacturing countries in the world by 2020,” according to the minister.
