Bangladesh is likely to seek duty and quota-free access for all its products to the United States (US) market at the upcoming TICFA meeting, the first one since signing of the deal between the two countries, relevant officials said.
Besides, Bangladesh will press the US for relaxation of the rules of origin (RO) and seek support of the latter in putting into effect the services waiver facility for the least developed countries (LDCs) at the meeting.
The probable agenda of the first TICFA meeting was discussed at the last inter-ministerial meeting organised by the ministry of commerce (MoC) late last month, sources said.
Until the suspension of the duty-free access facility under GSP until June last, about 97 per cent of the products originating from Bangladesh used to enjoy duty-free access to the US market. But the ready-made garment (RMG) products, the country's main export item, did never enjoy the facility. For this, Bangladesh will seek duty- and quota-free access for all its products to the US, at the upcoming meeting with TICFA, officials said.
The first meeting of the Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement (TICFA) forum will be held in Bangladesh on April 8 next. In this connection, a twelve-member delegation from the US will visit Bangladesh to join the meeting.
"It will be difficult to meet the conditions of the rules of origin, if the terms are not made easy and flexible. The concept of quota-free access would become meaningless without such relaxation. We will look to making the rules of origin easy, transparent and flexible," sources added.
The services sectors of the LDC countries are supposed to be prioritised by the developed ones, in accordance with a 2011 minister-level meeting in Geneva. But it is yet to be implemented, they noted.
As one of the LDCs, Bangladesh is now enjoying a transitional period under the WTO's Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement, which will expire in 2015.
Under this agreement, the World Trade Organization (WTO) allows Bangladesh to manufacture all types of generic medicines without payment of any royalty until 2015, in view of its requirement for public health purposes and making drugs available at relatively cheaper prices.
"We will seek help from the US to support a bid to extend the transitional period under the WTO's TRIPs," a high official at the MoC said.
The TICFA agreement has been activated since January 30 last after its signing between Bangladesh and the US on November 25, 2013.
At the meeting, "we will ardently urge the US government to restore the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facilities, which were enjoyed by Bangladesh," sources said.
Bangladesh has made sufficient progress in improving labour standards to justify revival of the duty-free trade benefit from US, sources said.
In this connection, the government has already met most of the 16 conditions set by the US. Some 13 conditions have been fulfilled. Those include appointment of 200 more factory inspectors, allowing trade unions at export processing zones (EPZs), resolving allegations of tortures of workers at 19 factories and creating a database with all information regarding registration of trade unions and inspection of factories, ministry sources said.
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