Sri Lanka expects to receive “very good news” within days on efforts to further reduce US tariffs on its exports, the country’s outgoing ambassador to Washington, Mahinda Samarasinghe, has said.
Speaking at a farewell ceremony at a Buddhist temple in Washington as he concludes his diplomatic tenure, Samarasinghe said he had recently secured President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s signature on a Gazette notification tied to the tariff-reduction programme, NewsFirst reported.
“Through that Gazette notification, we expect to deliver very good news to the people of Sri Lanka soon as part of a programme to further reduce the tariff rate,” he told the gathering. The remarks build on earlier government confidence over the US tariff talks, which have run alongside a separate 12.5 percent US duty tied to forced-labour concerns.
Samarasinghe, appointed to the post in December 2021 under then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, stressed that his departure was a personal decision and that the current government had not asked him to step down. He noted that of 17 ambassadors named by the previous administration, 16 were recalled early while he was asked to stay on.
He ruled out re-entering party politics but said he remained ready to help the government. “If this government believes I can contribute to its programmes and requests my assistance, I will not hesitate to provide that service for the sake of the country,” he said. The Daily Mirror reported that, while the government “never called him back,” the outgoing envoy was “not hesitant” to serve again if invited.
