Sri Lanka presents strong case at Washington GSP hearings

Saturday, 28 January 2012 01:48 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka has presented a strong case at the US GSP hearing held on 24 January lobbying for GSP relief, whilst a final decision is pending.

“We presented a strong case in our favour and we believe the final decision is pending, subject to another submission,” Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen said yesterday, after a discussion with officials of the Department of Commerce on US GSP relief.

A six-member Sri Lankan team, led by Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United States Jaliya Wickramasuriya is advancing Sri Lanka’s case in this review in Washington.

“This is the public hearing aspect of the review. Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United States Jaliya Wickramasuriya presented our case. Former Labour Secretary K.P Wimalasena and our Senior Legal Advisor answered the questions raised by the US GSP review panel,” Commerce Department Director General P.D. Fernando said.

Sri Lanka is now expected to make another submission titled the ‘Post Hearing Submission’ to be submitted in mid-February 2012. In addition to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Niger, Philippines and Uzbekistan are being reviewed. The hearing will also include testimony on a country practice petition related to the Republic of Georgia.

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“The Sri Lankan Ministry of Labour is playing a key role at this hearing. We already submitted our pre-hearing case and requests to appear at the GSP Subcommittee Public Hearing on 10 January to the office of the US Trade Representative using the online method,” Fernando revealed.

All submissions for the GSP Annual Review are somewhat tedious and should conform to the GSP regulations as specified in ‘15 CFR part 2007’.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), in December 2011 announced: “As part of past GSP annual reviews, the Office of the USTR accepted for review petitions to modify the GSP status of certain GSP beneficiary developing countries because of country practices. This notice announces the schedule for submissions and a public hearing on the ongoing reviews of outstanding country practice petitions.”