A review of the generalised system of preferences (GSP) Action Plan and relaxation of the rules of origin will top the upcoming TICFA meeting agenda, officials have said.
The meeting of the Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement (TICFA) is scheduled to be held in Dhaka on April 27-28 for the first time since the signing of the deal between Bangladesh and the US.
The meeting was scheduled for April 7-8. But it was postponed as both sides got engaged in other businesses, sources said.
Bangladesh is expected to seek duty and quota-free access for all its products to the United States (US) market and also seek support of the latter in putting into effect the services-waiver facility for the least developed countries (LDCs) at the meeting.
Bilateral trade and investment issues involving the two countries will also get priority at the meeting, according to the ministry of commerce (MoC) sources.
US investment in Bangladesh, US proposals on GSP, the labour affairs committee and women's economic empowerment issues will be discussed at the high-profile meeting, they said.
The probable agenda of the first TICFA meeting were fixed by the MoC and the ministries concerned late last month.
Until the suspension of the duty-free access facility under GSP in June last, about 97 per cent of the products originating from Bangladesh used to enjoy duty-free entry into the US market. But the ready-made garment (RMG) products, the country's main export item, had never enjoyed the facility. For this, Bangladesh will seek duty- and quota-free access for all its products to the US at the upcoming TICFA meeting, officials have said.
"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 a relaxation. We will look forward 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 their 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.
He said trade and investment issues would be emphatically raised at the meeting by both the countries.
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 GSP facility, which had been enjoyed by Bangladesh," sources concerned said.
Bangladesh has made sufficient progress in improving labour standards to justify revival of the duty-free trade benefit from the US, sources said.
In this connection, the government has already met most of the 16 conditions set by the United States Trade Representative (USTR). Most of the conditions have been fulfilled, sources said adding: Several conditions have remained pending, which include the appointment of 200 more factory inspectors. They are in the process and will be completed soon.
The work on allowing trade unions at export processing zones (EPZs) is going ahead. But it will take time, ministry sources said.
GSP action plan review, easing rules of origin to top agenda
Rezaul Karim | Published: April 04, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
Share if you like