Sri Lankan Deputy Foreign Minister Ajith P Perera claimed that it was the government’s improvement in human rights that led the United States to restore the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits programme.
Mr Perera told reporters in Colombo that the programme has been signed by US President Barack Obama and “would bring in billions of dollars to the country annually".
He went on to claim that it was due to the government’s human rights record and “stability in the North and East” that the concessions were renewed.
Mr Perera also said that discussions were underway with the European Union to restore the GSP+ programme, which was withdrawn due to the government’s human rights record in 2010.
Also see our earlier posts:
GSP programme renewed for Sri Lanka (04 Jul 2015)
It was ‘impossible’ to have formal dialogue with Sri Lanka on human rights says EU (23 Jun 2015)