\\\'Ticfa not the forum for GSP\\\'

Michael J Delaney, the Assistant US Trade Representative for South Asia, has said Ticfa is a forum where they would identify obstacles towards boosting two-way trade and investment. Ticfa will not be the forum for discussing duty-free market access for Bangladesh exports to the US market, he affirmed. Delaney, who led the US side in the Trade and Investment Cooperation framework Agreement (Ticfa) talks in Dhaka, said this in reply to a question at a joint press conference in the city. He said the decision about reinstating Bangladesh’s GSP would be based on the WTO decision. “….more specifically under the Doha Round, which was yet to be completed,” he added without providing further details. There had been a general perception before the maiden Ticfa meeting began in Dhaka that Ticfa bilateral forum would take up the issue of reinstating GSP for Bangladesh. Some Bangladesh products that enjoyed market access lost the privilege last year after the worst-ever industrial disaster, the multi-storey Rana Plaza building collapse at Savar. Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed who led the Bangladesh side at the meeting, however, said they had demanded the market access to the US market under the ‘Bali Package’. Dhaka and Washington signed the Ticfa on November 25 last year following more than a decade of discussions. It became effective on January 13 this year. The US Trade Representative said it was a forum where they would identify obstacles towards boosting two-way trade and investment. The two-way trade between the two countries crossed the $ 6 billion mark last year, according to a news agency.