The European Union has readmitted Burma to a scheme allowing it to benefit from lower duties on exports. Burma will return to the EU’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), having been forced out in 1997 due to systemic practices of forced labor, Ireland, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said in a statement. Richard Bruton, Irish minister for jobs, enterprise and innovation, said the move would facilitate “economic growth and development opportunities” in Burma. The EU’s decision had been conditional on the International Labor Organization reporting improvements regarding forced labor, which it did a year ago. —Reuters
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