The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the apex trade body of the country, on Monday urged the United States to extend the facilities of the Generalised System of Preferences for more Bangladeshi products including readymade garments.
At a discussion meeting with the US business delegation at the federation building FBCCI president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed said the implications of restrictive measure on the GSP against Bangladesh would be detrimental in terms of employment, women empowerment and economic and industrial development.
‘It will also seriously undermine our capacity to eradicate poverty through increased trade and employment and also to undertake various compliance requirements including ILO core labour standards,’ he said.
Items like tobacco, plastic bags, golf equipments, ceramic products and shrimp are eligible for duty-free access to the US under the GSP scheme but the RMG, which makes up 95 per cent of exports to the US, is subjected to 15.3 per cent most favoured nation tariff amounting to over $600 million per annum, Akram said.
The restrictive measure on the GSP against Bangladesh would largely hamper the exporting industries and many workers will lose their jobs in massive scale causing severe socio-economic unrest, he observed.
The FBCCI president said Bangladesh was gearing towards a positive shift from aid dependency to trade dependency and this was clearly reflected in the relations with US businesses.
Inviting the US business delegation to invest more in Bangladesh, Akram said the government was pursuing an open-door policy designed to create a more open and competitive climate for investment.
Bangladesh has liberalised its economy to an extent that has surpassed many of its South Asian counterparts, he added.
Akram urged the US businesses to invest in Bangladesh in the sectors like tourism, backward-linkage industries for readymade garments, light engineering industries including electronics hardware, appliances and transport equipments, various consumer goods, fisheries development including aqua-culture, marine fishing and frozen food industries, shipbuilding, telecom, plastic, ceramics, energy and power and leather sector.
Alexander Gazis, economic and business officer of US embassy in Dhaka, said Bangladesh needed transparency and business-friendly environment for the FDI.
The private sector leaders have to find out and solve the problems which are hindering the growth of the sector, he suggested.
US-Bangladesh Advisory Council chairman Sabbir Ahmed Chowdhury, who is also a member of the visiting US delegation, said issues like GSP and other trade facilities in the US market were mainly dealt and decided by the US Congress, not by the US president or other government staff.
He suggested that the businesses of Bangladesh should take notice of this factor and focus on increasing their capacity to lobby the Congressmen to win favour on the US market.
He also suggested that the FBCCI should constitute a high-powered business team, consisting of representatives of the readymade garment sector for lobbying the US Congressmen to secure GSP and other business facilities.
Jahangir Dewan, another member of the delegation, said there was a great potential for expanding the IT sector in the country. ‘Bangladesh produces nearly 10,000 engineers per year. So, the country can have a plan to make proper use of the professionals,’
Former US ambassador to Bangladesh James F Moriarty was supposed to attend the meeting but he was not present.
Foreign ministry’s director general Nazrul Islam, FBCCI vice-presidents Md Helal Uddin and Monowara Hakim Ali, and directors Abdul Haque and Obaidur Rahman also spoke at the discussion.
-With New Age input
