GSP facility to Pakistan may affect eight local items
Thursday, 25 November 2010
FE Report
The European Union's (EU) move to allow 75 export items of Pakistan to enjoy Generalised System of Preference (GSP) facility will affect export of eight major items of Bangladesh to its second largest export destination, businesses said Wednesday.
The businesses demanded exclusion of the items from the said GSP list and setting of a time-frame for at least two years for the facility to Pakistan to help the country's flood-hit economy.
The privileged items include leather goods, shoes, knitwear, jeans, home textile and readymade garment (RMG). The facility might be offered to flood-hit Pakistan in a short time.
"We have expressed our deep concern to the EU on this matter," commerce secretary Golam Hossain told the FE Wednesday.
He expressed the same view about the negative impact on the local export products destined for EU upon offering the GSP facility to Pakistan.
Businessmen raised the issue at a programme organised by Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce and Industries (BGCCI) and German embassy in Bangladesh.
The programme was arranged on the occasion of the visit by German state secretary of the federal foreign office Martin Biesel and an eight-member business delegation from the European country.
Martin Biesel said they would follow rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and Germany is in favour of trade liberalisation.
Md. Saiful Islam, president of the BGCCI, urged the government to take urgent steps to settle the issue.
"We are strongly protesting the same facility for Pakistan that Bangladesh has been enjoying as a Least Developed Country (LDC)," Islam said.
Trade cannot be compromised on humanitarian ground, he said urging the ministry of commerce to talk on the matter with EU in Brussels.
"We will recommend setting a time-frame of at least two years for GSP facility to export products from Pakistan and excluding the eight items from the GSP list," he said.
He urged the German government to help Bangladesh set up vocational training facilities and build skilled manpower.
The European Union's (EU) move to allow 75 export items of Pakistan to enjoy Generalised System of Preference (GSP) facility will affect export of eight major items of Bangladesh to its second largest export destination, businesses said Wednesday.
The businesses demanded exclusion of the items from the said GSP list and setting of a time-frame for at least two years for the facility to Pakistan to help the country's flood-hit economy.
The privileged items include leather goods, shoes, knitwear, jeans, home textile and readymade garment (RMG). The facility might be offered to flood-hit Pakistan in a short time.
"We have expressed our deep concern to the EU on this matter," commerce secretary Golam Hossain told the FE Wednesday.
He expressed the same view about the negative impact on the local export products destined for EU upon offering the GSP facility to Pakistan.
Businessmen raised the issue at a programme organised by Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce and Industries (BGCCI) and German embassy in Bangladesh.
The programme was arranged on the occasion of the visit by German state secretary of the federal foreign office Martin Biesel and an eight-member business delegation from the European country.
Martin Biesel said they would follow rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and Germany is in favour of trade liberalisation.
Md. Saiful Islam, president of the BGCCI, urged the government to take urgent steps to settle the issue.
"We are strongly protesting the same facility for Pakistan that Bangladesh has been enjoying as a Least Developed Country (LDC)," Islam said.
Trade cannot be compromised on humanitarian ground, he said urging the ministry of commerce to talk on the matter with EU in Brussels.
"We will recommend setting a time-frame of at least two years for GSP facility to export products from Pakistan and excluding the eight items from the GSP list," he said.
He urged the German government to help Bangladesh set up vocational training facilities and build skilled manpower.