Sri Lanka's Fisheries State Minister Dilip Wedaarachchi said the European Union ban on imports of fishery products from the island has been suspended for six months.
The suspension of the ban comes after Sri Lankan foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera visited the European Commission in Brussels last week, where Sri Lanka pledged to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU).
“The European Union gave Sri Lanka six months to get its act together to prevent Sri Lankan fishermen from engaging in Illegal fishing,” said Mr Wedaarachchi.
The European Commission had previously announced the ban on imports of fisheries products from Sri Lanka, its second biggest importer in the sector, last October, with the measure coming into effect on 14 January 2015.
See our earlier posts:
EU experts to visit Sri Lanka regarding fishing import ban (01 Feb 2015)
The suspension of the ban comes after Sri Lankan foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera visited the European Commission in Brussels last week, where Sri Lanka pledged to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU).
“The European Union gave Sri Lanka six months to get its act together to prevent Sri Lankan fishermen from engaging in Illegal fishing,” said Mr Wedaarachchi.
The European Commission had previously announced the ban on imports of fisheries products from Sri Lanka, its second biggest importer in the sector, last October, with the measure coming into effect on 14 January 2015.
See our earlier posts:
EU experts to visit Sri Lanka regarding fishing import ban (01 Feb 2015)
Sri Lanka promises to comply with fishing rules after UK complaint (13 May 2012)
EU bans fisheries imports from Sri Lanka (14 Oct 2014)
Greenpeace welcomes European ban on Sri Lankan fish (16 Oct 2014)
EU suspends fish imports from Sri Lanka (16 January 2015)
Sri Lanka seeks postponement of EU fish import ban (24 January 2015)