19 May 2017 09:17 am
The Sri Lankan-born European Parliament Member, Niranjan de S Deva Aditya, in a statement yesterday congratulated Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Sri Lanka being granted GSP Plus status by the EU Council and the European Parliament.
“Let’s make no mistake about this” Deva Aditya said. “The GSP Plus status is given to friendly countries who believe in the values, norms and legal process that the EU believes in”. In giving this status to Sri Lanka, only one man mattered, the Prime Minister, whose word was accepted by the EU under the stewardship of President Sirisena.
It is because of Ranil Wickremesinghe, his reputation and probity, his assurances, his honesty and his promise that the EU accepted that Sri Lanka will follow the same norms and values which underpin the EU, now the biggest economy in the world,” Deva Aditya noted.
He further said that regaining GSP Plus status was no easy task and noted that Sri Lanka also owes a debt of gratitude to Rodney Perera, the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the EU—understaffed, underfunded and undermanned who valiantly accepted the challenge of persuading 700 plus MEPs, to accept Sri Lanka’s promise and the Prime Minister’s word.
“I am proud to have been associated with this heroic effort which will generate 100,000 new jobs and 500,000 associated jobs bringing export earnings up by over 2 billion dollars per year to the Sri Lankan economy if the business community and investors grasp the challenge and set up to fulfil their part in creating wealth for the masses,” Deva Aditya said.