President’s France visit postponed!

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s official visit to France, which was scheduled to take place this month, has reportedly been postponed until the end of the year.

The decision is said to have been taken due to domestic developments, including the violent incident at Negombo Prison.

French authorities have been informed of the postponement, while Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath said the President would visit France at a later date this year and that a new date had been requested for the visit.

The invitation was extended during a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit held in New Delhi, India, last February.

It is also reported that discussions had been planned during the visit on securing France’s support for Sri Lanka to continue benefiting from the European Union’s GSP+ trade concession scheme.

The current GSP+ scheme expires on 31 December this year, and Sri Lanka will have to reapply for the concession next year.

Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath said the Government had also planned to sign three Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) relating to economic and financial cooperation and the defence sector during the President’s visit to France.

Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Anil Jayantha had also been scheduled to accompany the President on the visit.

However, following Sri Lanka’s reclassification from a Lower-Middle-Income Country to an Upper-Middle-Income Country under the World Bank Group’s new country income classifications released on 1 July 2026, differing views have been expressed over the risk of Sri Lanka losing GSP+ concessions.

Nevertheless, it is also reported that under the new EU GSP rules, which will apply from 2027, provisions are in place to remove countries from GSP benefits if they have been classified as Upper-Middle-Income or High-Income countries for three consecutive years.

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