Staff Reporter :
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yesterday said that Bangladesh has fulfilled all the conditions to get back the GSP facilities in the US market.
“We have already met all of 16-point conditions in line with the Action Plan set by the US authorities to get back the trade privilege. It now depends on the US side whether they will restore the GSP or not,”
Tofail told reporters after a meeting with a team of the United States Trade Representatives (USTR).
The eight-member delegation of USTR led by its assistant for South and Central Asia Michael J Delaney met the Minister at his Secretariat office in the capital on Wednesday.
Implementation of Action Plan and bilateral trade issues were discussed at the meeting.
Tofail Ahmed said that the visiting USTR team was very much satisfied with the initiatives of ensuring factory safety and labour rights in Bangladesh. So, there is no bar to get back the GSP (generalized system of preferences) in US market.
“The issue of GSP is a matter of image crisis for the country, but it is not much of financial losses because the US did not provided GSP facilities to Bangladesh’s garment items,” Tofail said, adding, “The US used to give GSP facilities to some items like tobacco, plastic and ceramic, etc and their export value will not be more than US$23 million”.
Replying to a question, he, however, said that the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) earlier signed between the two countries would not be meaningful if the GSP facility for Bangladesh is not restored by the US.
“If Bangladesh is denied the GSP facility, the objectives of the TICFA would not be fulfilled,” he added.
On 25 November in 2013, Bangladesh and the US signed the TICFA in Washington for the expansion of trade relations between the two countries.
The US ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat, Senior Commerce Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamun, and additional secretaries M Shawkat Ali Waresi, Amitab Chakrabarti and Zahir Uddin, among others, were present in the meeting.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yesterday said that Bangladesh has fulfilled all the conditions to get back the GSP facilities in the US market.
“We have already met all of 16-point conditions in line with the Action Plan set by the US authorities to get back the trade privilege. It now depends on the US side whether they will restore the GSP or not,”
Tofail told reporters after a meeting with a team of the United States Trade Representatives (USTR).
The eight-member delegation of USTR led by its assistant for South and Central Asia Michael J Delaney met the Minister at his Secretariat office in the capital on Wednesday.
Implementation of Action Plan and bilateral trade issues were discussed at the meeting.
Tofail Ahmed said that the visiting USTR team was very much satisfied with the initiatives of ensuring factory safety and labour rights in Bangladesh. So, there is no bar to get back the GSP (generalized system of preferences) in US market.
“The issue of GSP is a matter of image crisis for the country, but it is not much of financial losses because the US did not provided GSP facilities to Bangladesh’s garment items,” Tofail said, adding, “The US used to give GSP facilities to some items like tobacco, plastic and ceramic, etc and their export value will not be more than US$23 million”.
Replying to a question, he, however, said that the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) earlier signed between the two countries would not be meaningful if the GSP facility for Bangladesh is not restored by the US.
“If Bangladesh is denied the GSP facility, the objectives of the TICFA would not be fulfilled,” he added.
On 25 November in 2013, Bangladesh and the US signed the TICFA in Washington for the expansion of trade relations between the two countries.
The US ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat, Senior Commerce Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamun, and additional secretaries M Shawkat Ali Waresi, Amitab Chakrabarti and Zahir Uddin, among others, were present in the meeting.
