Leather, Home Textiles Exports Under Revised Gsp In Eu
Bangladesh faces tough Pak competitions
Bangladesh would face strong competitive pressure from Pakistan in exporting home textile and leather to the EU market due to the revised generalised system of preferences scheme of the European Union, experts said at a seminar on Thursday.
They, however, said that the revised GSP scheme created great opportunity for some other countries but their exports to the EU market were negligible and they could not affect Bangladesh.
The seminar titled ‘Revised GSP Scheme of European Union: Implications for Bangladesh’ was organised by the Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city.
The European Parliament has recently given GSP Plus to 10 countries including Pakistan under Single Delegated Act with an effect from January 1, 2014.
Following the decision of the EU, Bangladeshi manufacturers apprehended that Bangladesh would lose huge market share in the EU as Pakistan developed expertise on denim and home textile.
‘For the revised preferential, Pakistan export to the EU is likely to increase by $1 billion though trade diversion from Bangladesh, China, India and Turkey and the diversion from Bangladesh may take place in T-shirt, jersey, pullover, cardigans and waistcoats,’ BFTI director Mostafa Abid Khan said in the keynote paper.
Among the 13 GSP plus beneficiary countries, only Pakistan has export similarity with Bangladesh and the high rate of the utilisation of GSP confirmed that Bangladesh was likely to have competitive pressure from Pakistan in its major export products, he said.
Frederic Maduraud, minister counsellor of European Commission, said that Bangladesh fulfilled a number of commitments in the areas of workers rights, wages and factory compliance which were made after the Rana Plaza building collapse.
The EU will stay with Bangladesh and has extended its support to make the workplace safer in the readymade garment sector, he said.
Bangladesh improved a lot but the country needs to improve a lot to fulfil the conditions agreed in the Sustainability Compact, he said.
Mashiur Rahman, adviser to the prime minister, said that Bangladesh was going forward and all had to work together for the
sustainable export growth in the EU market.
He said that the work place condition in the garment sector had been improved and only 2 per cent of the factories found risky.
There is no country in the world where 100 per cent of the factories are safe, Mashiur said.
Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Mustafiur Rahman emphasised on the value addition of the products and said that the benefits of the GSP facilities would have to be utilised for industrialisation.
‘We should also pay attention to the product diversification for full utilisation of the GSP facilities in the EU market,’ he said.
Zillul Hye Razi, economic and information officer of the European Commission delegation, said that despite GSP facilities the rate of value addition of the product was lower in Bangladesh compared with other countries.
He suggested product diversification and promotion of the export of bicycle to the EU to boost export to the region.
-With New Age input
