US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan W Mozena said Wednesday that Bangladesh needs to do a lot more to regain its Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facility in the US market.
He said the issues relating to the GSP facility would be resolved shortly.
He, however, said the US is satisfied with Bangladesh for taking some steps to get back the GSP. There is good progress made by Bangladesh in getting back the GSP facility.
"Some progress that Bangladesh made is satisfactory. But still it needs to do a lot in regaining the GSP facility. I hope it will be resolved soon," he told the media after a meeting with Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed at his secretariat office on the day.
Earlier, President Barack Obama suspended US preferential trade benefits, or GSP status, for Bangladesh in June last year as mainly a symbolic response to dangerous conditions in the garment industry that claimed more than 1,200 lives in 2013.
However, Tofail Ahmed expressed the hope that Bangladesh will regain the GSP facility from the US by June next as it has fulfilled almost all conditions of the US.
"I hope Bangladesh will get back GSP facilities from the US by June as the country has fulfilled almost all conditions of the US," he said.
He said that Bangladesh has made significant progress in compliance and will get back trade facility (GSP) withheld by the US.
"Bangladesh expects to get back the GSP facility from the US as it has fulfilled many of the conditions including occupational safety and workers' rights," he said.
The meeting discussed various trade-related issues especially the GSP. Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) also came up for discussion.
Tofail said he had discussed with the US envoy about TICFA that has already come into effect since January this year.
"We also talked about the GSP. Bangladesh and the US want to cooperate with each other in the field of trade and commerce. There is no link between TICFA and GSP," he added.
The commerce minister said Bangladesh is in a good position. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Bali has decided to give trade facilities for the least developed countries (LDCs). Bangladesh has been working to get those facilities that will help increase export.
"US is interested to invest in Bangladesh. Trade with the US will increase in future," the commerce minister said.
A high-profile US private sector trade delegation will arrive in Dhaka on April 6 to hold the first meeting of the TICFA to discuss the bilateral trade and investment issues, meeting sources said.
Getting duty-free and quota-free market access for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) will be the key agenda in the first TICFA meeting.
Dan Mozena said an array of compliance issues, especially fire safety and factory standard, will be discussed during the scheduled April 6 meeting.
He said that there is no linkage between signing of the TICFA and reinstatement of GSP saying that TICFA is a place or platform where each side can raise issues and resolve those.
He said that both Bangladesh and the US will be able to raise in honest mind whatever issues each side have. Bangladesh can also raise duty-free and quota-free market access issues, he added.
Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed was also present in the meeting.
