The 20th meeting of the European Union (EU) – Sri Lanka Joint Commission took place in Brussels on 19 July 2016. The meeting was co-chaired by Mrs. Chitranganee Wagiswara, Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, and Mr. Gunnar Wiegand, Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific at the European External Action Service.
The Joint Commission, which oversees the 1995 EU-Sri Lanka Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development, deals with a broad range of bilateral and multilateral issues of mutual interest. Its tasks are to: ensure the proper functioning and implementation of the Agreement; set priorities; and make recommendations.
All three Working Groups established under the terms of the Joint Commission reported back from their respective meetings held in January (the Working Group on Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights) and in May (the Working Group on Trade and Economic Cooperation Issues, and the Working Group on Development Cooperation).
The meeting was held in an open and constructive spirit. The EU extended condolences to the many victims of the damaging floods and landslides in Sri Lanka in May and their bereaved families. The Sri Lankan side expressed their appreciation for the EU’s swift response to this disaster. The EU gave €700,000 (LKR 114.5 million) to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to the worst affected communities.
The Joint Commission welcomed Sri Lanka’s application for access to the trade concessions under the EU’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) as a sign of Sri Lanka’s renewed commitment to meeting its wider international obligations.
The European Investment Bank announced that it was currently negotiating a €50 million (LKR 8.2 billion) concessional loan with the Government of Sri Lanka for Greater Colombo Wastewater Project.
The EU welcomed the participation of Sri Lankan students, scholars and universities in EU higher education and research cooperation programs and encouraged more applications from Sri Lanka, given the wealth of available opportunities. In this meeting there had been a serious discussion on implementation of Geneva Resolution.
