US ambassador Dan Mozena on Thursday said the Savar tragedy would have an impact on the hearing of the United States Trade Representative on continuation
of generalised system of preferences for Bangladesh.
‘It certainly makes the environment of the workplace safety questionable. I’m sure it’ll have that impact,’ said the US envoy in reference to the killing of more than 200 people in a building collapse at Savar while talking to reporters at a function on youth environmental initiatives in the city.
‘But I will convey the progress Bangladesh has made in addressing the issues raised in the GSP petition to those who are making this decisions,’ he said.
Mozena hoped that Bangladesh government would asses the response to this horrible disaster in Savar and see what lessons they can learn to respond in the future to this type of incident.
The concern over retention of GSP facility has risen further following the killing of more than 240 people in a collapse of nine-storey building, Rana Plaza, which housed five garment factories and other shops, at Savar on Wednesday.
Bangladesh has been under tremendous pressure to improve work-place safety, especially at readymade garment units after 112 workers were killed and more than a hundred injured in the fire at Tazreen Fashions Ltd at Ashulia on November 24 last year.
The government on Wednesday submitted its reply to the queries of the United States Trade Representative for retaining the GSP in the US market with a promise to comply with labour rights and safety at factories.
In the reply to the 19 queries of the USTR, the government also promised to improve vigilance against rights violations at factories, especially in the garment sector.
The government is also considering massive restructuring of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments including setting up of new offices at the district levels leading to increasing the number of factory inspectors.
At present, the DIFE, however, has 90 factory inspectors against 183 posts to monitor the working conditions at the workplaces.
The authorities concerned detailed the government’s existing inspection capacity in its reply to USTR, adding that the draft of Occupational Health and Safety Policy was at final stage which was scheduled to be placed before the cabinet by June 30 this year for approval.
On January 29 this year, Bangladesh put forward its request to the USTR for continuation of the GSP facility in the US market, since the country has taken initiatives to upgrade the garment units’ safety and ensure concerned rights.
The GSP facility covered only 0.54 per cent of Bangladesh’s exports to the USA worth $ 26 million against the total exports worth $ 4.91 billion to the US market during the financial year 2011-12.
But experts fear that if the US scrap GSP facility on ground of lack of work-place safety, it would have a negative impact on the overall exports of the country.
In a reply to a USTR query, Dhaka said a total of 16 trade unions in the Readymade Garment sector were registered with the authorities concerned between January and March 2013.
-With New Age input
