BD seeks fair trade deal with US

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Economic Reporter :
Bangladesh Ambassador to the United States Mohammad Ziauddin met with Congressman George Holding in Washington DC on Tuesday and discussed issues of mutual interests, including women empowerment, counter terrorism and duty free quota free (DFQF) market access.
The Republican Congressman from North Carolina, George Holding is a member on the House Ways and Means Sub-Committee on Trade, said a release received on Wednesday.
The Ambassador briefed him about the sense of discrimination that 14 countries out of 48 LDCs feel that they are not getting the DFQF access to US market unlike the other 34 Least Developed Countries that are enjoying such trade benefits.
Ziauddin insisted that like the European Union, the USA should also provide DFQF access to all the LDCs on the basis of justice and fairness.
He also briefed the Congressman on women empowerment in Bangladesh. He said that women are currently holding important positions in the government.
The prime minister, the leader of the opposition in parliament, the speaker, deputy leader of the house and five cabinet ministers are women. Furthermore, there are 70 women MPs in the 350-member Parliament, which means 20% elected representatives are women, he said.
In the RMG sector, 90 percent or more than four million workers are women who are contributing to society by alleviating poverty, minimizing child labour and containing extremism. Therefore, the Ambassador observed the DFQF facility will help boost volume of bilateral trade and thereby enable Bangladesh to pull out of vicious cycle of poverty and extremism by using its own resources, the release said.
Ambassador Ziauddin also mentioned about Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s zero tolerance on terrorism and all forms of extremism. He praised the current cooperation between Bangladesh and UAS in countering terrorism by sharing information and other capacity building measures.
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