EU sends fact-finding mission to Myanmar to weigh up trade sanctions

The European Union is sending a fact-finding mission to Myanmar to assess whether to impose trade sanctions over human rights abuses, EU trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom said on Friday. The mission to Myanmar is to look at a potential withdrawal of its “Everything but Arms” (EBA) status, which allows the world’s poorest countries to sell any goods tariff-free into the EU, except weapons. “We cannot exclude this outcome. The reason is the blatant violation of human rights in Myanmar,” Reuters quoted Malmstrom as saying after a meeting of trade ministers in Innsbruck, Austria. The move confirms news that the EU was considering sanctioning Myanmar over the Rohingya crisis, Reuters reported.