Sri Lanka: Overseas Trade

(asked on 9th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with the new trade envoy to Sri Lanka on ensuring that future trade agreements between the UK and Sri Lanka support the UK’s policy on accountability and justice for human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.


Answered by
Nigel Adams Portrait
Nigel Adams
This question was answered on 12th November 2020

Sri Lanka is a valuable trading partner for the UK. Both countries have expressed a mutual commitment to identifying and reducing barriers to trade and are actively seeking ways to further enhance our trading relationship. The UK's new trade envoy to Sri Lanka will play an important role in supporting this. The UK has long supported efforts to promote peace, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka, including through our work with the Core Group on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council. We regularly raise the importance of human rights and good governance alongside trade and other issues as part of our wide-ranging discussions with the Government of Sri Lanka. The Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, has raised both human rights and trade on several occasions with the Sri Lankan High Commissioner and Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, most recently during calls on 4 and 5 November. Human rights in Sri Lanka has been, and will continue to be, a longstanding priority for the UK.

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