The US is unlikely to review Bangladesh’s plea of reinstating the duty-free benefit to certain products next month because of the recently inked TICFA that has hampered the preparation process of review. Commerce secretary Mahbubur Rahman told reporters on Thursday that the review might be delayed till next March. Necessary papers in this connection would not be prepared by the next month, he said.
Mahbubur returned home in the morning after signing the controversial Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement in the US. He said the preparation process of the GSP review was hampered for signing the TICFA.
The US suspended GSP facility for Bangladesh in last June citing inadequate labour safety, two months after the Rana Plaza collapse that killed 1,133 readymade garments workers.
The Awami League-led government had paid a Washington-based law firm up to $60,000 to lobby the US government
against withdrawing GSP for Bangladesh in the weeks immediately before the suspension decision was taken.
Business leaders and economists observed that the suspension of GSP facilities would not affect the country’s exports, but damaged the country’s image across the world.
They sharply reacted to the decision saying the US was using the GSP facilities as a leverage to implement its political agenda.
The GSP covers only $34.7 million which is less than 1 per cent of Bangladesh’s nearly $5 billion exports to the US. Bangladesh used to get preferences from the US on tobacco, sports equipment, porcelain china and plastic products, not on RMG exports.
Rahman said the first meeting of the forum under TICFA will be held in January.
He said the first meeting was scheduled to be held in the US, but was suspended due to lack of necessary documents.
He said the issue of GSP would be raised at the meeting.
The US has tagged conditions under an action plan for the revival of the GSP. The European Union countries, vital export destinations of Bangladeshi products, have endorsed the action plan.
The implementation of the action plan has made little progress.
Labour secretary Mikail Shipar said the government was implementing the action plan to retain GSP status, but it is not possible to say about the rate of its progress before the end November.
Appointment of 200 labour inspectors and inspecting RMG factories for ensuring fire and building safety are two major conditions attached by the US.
Currently, there are around 5,000 RMG factories in the country.
-With New Age input
