Sri Lanka blasts EU sanctions

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s president on Friday dismissed the European Union’s suspension of preferential trade status to the island, saying his government would resist foreign “strategic interference.”

“We will not be held back by threatened economic sanctions or withdrawn trade concessions by those who seek strategic interference in the national affairs of Sri Lanka,” President Mahinda Rajapakse said in a New Year message.

The statement was a clear reference to the EU decision last month to suspend Sri Lanka’s preferential trade status on the grounds that it had breached commitments on human rights and good governance.