Bangladesh on Monday sought GSP restoration and duty free access of its products to the US market at the TICFA meeting held in Dhaka on Monday.
At the meeting, the US side pressed for workers safety, transparency in public tenders, harmonization of duties in cotton import and proper implementation of intellectual property rights.
The Bangladesh side also sought preferential treatment of products like Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean countries considering its extreme ‘vulnerability’ due to climate change.
This was disclosed at a joint press conference held at a city hotel in the evening after the first-ever meeting under the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) between Dhaka and Washington.
Assistant US Trade Representative for South Asia Michael J Delaney, US Ambassador Dan W Mozena, Bangladesh Senior Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed and Labour Secretary Michael Shipar and respective officials of both the countries were present.
Mahbub Ahmed led the Bangladesh side at the meeting while Michael J Delaney headed the US team.
The TICFA meeting has reviewed bilateral trades and investment between the two countries and the US investment in Bangladesh. Both the countries also identified some obstacles towards further expanding bilateral trade and investment between them.
Replying to a question about higher duty of Bangladesh products to the US market, Michael J Delaney said the matter will be looked after under the WTO Bali framework.
The country has progressed about labour rights but amendment of labour act and invigilator appointment for the labour till remained to get Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), he said.
On November 25, Bangladesh signed TICFA with the US to remove trade barriers between the two countries. Ticfa is a mechanism for dealing with specific trade and investment issues. The US-Bangladesh TICFA seeks to further bolster annual two-way trade between the two countries, which exceeded $6 billion in 2013
According to data from the USTR, the US’ goods trade deficit with Bangladesh stood at $4.6 billion in 2013.Bangladesh paid nearly one-third of its export value to the US as duties. It pays around $800 million each year as duty for entering its products to the US market.
Currently, the country exports readymade garments worth $3.4 billion to the US and duties were being paid for one-third of the products.
US Ambassador Mozena, in response to a question, said, “I see our relation with Bangladesh is becoming ever stronger, broader and deeper. FICFA was one of my dreams and this dream has come true today.”
