US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena on Thursday said the United States wants Bangladesh to become a premium and a preferred brand in the global apparel market.
He said this while talking to a small group of reporters at the Foreign Ministry after a meeting with Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque.
The US envoy also said Bangladesh has a prospect to become the world’ s number one RMG exporter.
He said incidents like Rana Plaza building collapse and Tazreen fire should not take place again, and Bangladesh needs to ensure it.
Responding to a question, Mozena said the meeting was part US’ continuous dialogue with Bangladesh and a wide range of issues were discussed.
Earlier, the US Trade Representative (USTR) has said Bangladesh has not yet implemented substantial parts of the Action Plan given by the US administration to retain GSP benefit in the US market. An interagency review, led by the office of the USTR, has concluded that Bangladesh has made some important progress, but must do more to address the worker rights and worker safety issues that led US President Barack Obama to suspend the country’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) trade benefits in June 2013.
At the time of the suspension, the Obama administration provided the government of Bangladesh with an action plan which provides a basis for the President to consider the reinstatement of GSP trade benefits.
The government is behind schedule in carrying out many hundreds of critical safety inspections in garment factories, as well as meeting its commitments to hire additional inspectors, it said.
