GSP among other issues on agenda

Bangladesh is expected to raise issues including GSP (generalised system of preferences), relaxation of the rules of origin and trade and investment in the first TICFA (Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement) meeting to be held in the city tomorrow (Monday), officials said.

Senior Secretary of the ministry of commerce (MoC) Mahbub Ahmed will lead the Bangladesh side while Assistant United States Trade Representative (USTR) for South Asia Michael J Delaney will represent the US side at the meeting.

The USTR team will meet today (Sunday) with the commerce minister to discuss labour issues in the ready made garment (RMG) sector and trade and investment between the two countries, an MoC official told the FE Saturday.

In the upcoming meeting Bangladesh will seek duty- and quota-free access for all its products to the US market.

The country would press for preferential market access of its apparel items and the GSP in the first meeting of the forum. "We will discuss GSP and other trade and investment issues in the meeting," Mahbub Ahmed told the FE.  

The MoC has already fixed the agenda of the meeting that include the US investment in Bangladesh, establishing the TICFA labour affairs committee, review of the GSP action plan and labour developments, review of trade and investment concerns, US proposal for TICFA working group on women's economic empowerment and review of TICFA discussion and next steps.   

Earlier, Bangladesh and the USA signed the much-talked-about TICFA on November 25, 2013 in Washington. The TICFA meeting was scheduled for April 7-8 last but was postponed as both the two countries were engaged in other businesses.

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.

The RMG products, the country's main export item, had never enjoyed the facility.

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 Organisation (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 cheaper prices.

Bangladesh will seek US support in a bid to extend the transitional period under the WTO's TRIPs.

The country has made significant progress in improving labour standards to justify revival of the duty-free trade benefit from the US after the tragic incident at Rana Plaza that claimed over 1,100 lives.

In this connection, the government has already met a good number of the 16 conditions set by the USTR. Most of the conditions have been fulfilled. The TICFA was signed after eleven years of negotiation which started in 2002.

The cabinet in June last year assigned the MoC to handle the affairs relating to signing of the TICFA deal.

The TICFA is considered as a platform for discussing bilateral trade and investment issues.

The US has so far signed such agreements with 92 countries and regional associations.

The impact of signing the deal will depend on how it is going to be used. Bangladesh will definitely remain under pressure on various issues like labour rights and intellectual property rights after signing the agreement, according to private sector stakeholders.