GSP plus coupled with labour rights top agenda

Trade facility encapsulated in GSP Plus and labour rights may dominate talks between Bangladesh and a delegation from the European Parliament that will visit Dhaka on July 17- 20, officials say.
The trade delegation, comprising five parliamentarians of the European Union -- the largest Bangladesh export destination as a bloc -- will visit some private-sector factories and assess situation on the economic front of the country, the officials at the foreign ministry say.
Commenting on the mission, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam said there would be a wide-ranging discussion with the EU delegation.
"Bangladesh draws world attention for keeping up its growth momentum despite worldwide recession triggered by the pandemic and war," Mr Shahriar notes.
Responding to a question he said that the discussion on the GSP-plus facility already started and many countries pledged to extend it up to 2029 from 2026.
"Already, Australia has informed us that they are extending it and we seek such extension not only from the EU but also from other countries like Japan and Canada."
The EU is reviewing its entire GSP regime and the draft of the review is tabled in the European Parliament, he informed and said Bangladesh needs to realign its position during GSP-plus negotiations with the bloc.
Issues related to labour rights are critical in this regard, he mentions, referring to the EU and US demand for introduction of uniform labour rules both inside and outside EPZs.
"When this issue was raised in Washington during the bilateral economic consultation, we told them that the foreign investors came in the EPZs under a fixed set of rules. If we change that drastically that will be injustice to them so we sought time saying that we would try to implement the uniformity within two or three years," the minister said.
He said the EU is providing EBA (everything but arms) facility to many other countries besides Bangladesh. "But no other country can use the facility as Bangladesh, which immensely reaps benefit through using this facility. The EU delegation can see how we do that and tell our success story to other countries."
The state minister said that non-disclosure of the citizenship status of BNP senior vice- chairman Tarique Rahaman by the UK government is 'painful'.
Responding to a question he said Bangladesh several times requested the UK government to know about the citizenship status of Mr Rahman, the eldest son of former Prime Minister and BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia. "But they did not respond to the request."
He said it is frustrating not to get the information from a country with which Bangladesh has a deep-rooted friendship.
"We are sure that his Bangladeshi passport is revoked and we have shown the proof of that," he adds.
Tariq, who was sent to London by the military-backed caretaker regime in 2008, was convicted by Bangladeshi courts in several cases after the assumption of power by the ruling Awami League.
The UK officials time and again have mentioned that they cannot send back Tariq to Bangladesh as it is under jurisdiction of UK court.

mirmostafiz@yahoo.com