Ambassador and head of the EU delegation to Bangladesh Pierre Mayaudon Wednesday stressed revision of the company act to help attract foreign direct investment.
"Worldwide it is easier to say than to do. We in Europe are experiencing it first-hand. But Bangladesh has many assets to bravely carry out this process, starting with a young and enthusiastic population and dynamic entrepreneurs who are determined to shifting the economic growth model," he said.
The ambassador was speaking at a meet the press meeting, organised by Economic Reporters' Forum (ERF) at the National Press Club in the city.
The ambassador said the aim of the reform is "nothing less than a paradigm shift" from a business relation dominated by the export of RMG to a more balanced and diversified economic relation. "It will not happen at all if we do not start working on it," he further said.
The EU Ambassador said a new law cannot change everything but added that designing and conducting economic reform is an "absolute necessity."
The Head of the EU delegation said in the reform process, service sector should be an integral part and companies need to have a transparent and predictable regulatory framework to secure investment.
Referring to media reports including that 70 % of the court cases are related to land disputes, the senior diplomat said the reform will ensure safety of investment as Bangladesh has to compete with other nations to receive FDI in a globalised economy.
In his almost hour-long speech, the EU head of the delegation talked about the EU-Bangladesh 'impressive' relationship including its partnership in trade and investment for the betterment of Bangladesh economy.
He said implementation of Sustainability Compact will help the country access generalised system of preference (GSP) plus regime after its graduation to a middle income country.
In this regard, he referred to the potential suspension of the country's duty-free and quota-free benefit under the GSP and everything but arms (EBA) regime once the country reaches the middle-income status. Bangladesh has been enjoying trade benefits to the market of 27-member regional grouping for decades as a least developed country.
He noted that the EU wants to match its ambition with the Bangladesh government's vision 2021 for improving trade and economic relationship.
The ambassador said transforming Bangladesh into a digital and middle income country is "achievable" and the EU can contribute to the promising concepts for the betterment of Bangladesh
He, however, recalled the EU trade commissioner's statement, saying if Rana Plaza-like incident recurs, the regional bloc will revise GSP facility for Bangladesh.
He also conveyed the EU's stand on accelerating the process of implementing rules related to the revised Bangladesh labour act and revision of export processing zone act in accordance with the change in the labour law.
This has to be ensured that rules should be homogeneous and congruent with the international conventions, the ambassador added.
He also laid importance on the implementation of the rules of the labour law in other industries as it is the merit of the Sustainability Compact, signed after the building collapse.
He said this will help change the country's external image as a country with cheap labour and cheap products.
But he said the image of Bangladesh does not do justice to millions of workers who work hard to come out of the poverty. The EU wants to work collectively to get rid of this image, he added.
Referring to the country's GSP and EBA benefit following graduation of the MIC, the ambassador said: "Bangladesh will not lose overnight the benefit of the GSP and EBA and get three years of time to adjust with the GSP plus regime. But the country has to go through process of signing, ratifying and implementing 27 international conventions covering human rights, labour rights, environment and good governance." "Finally it has to face tough process of getting EU parliament approval, which has 700 members with different constituency-driven perception."
Bangladesh is on right track to meet the criteria of GSP-plus benefit, he said.
The EU ambassador also referred to the EU contribution to the value chain and said over the last 10 years, the EU has invested around 70 million euros through various support programs to improve investment climate.
He said the EU is contributing to the SME and promised to help Bangladesh diversify the economy in four sectors--IT, shipbuilding, leather and pharmaceutical.
smunima@yahoo.com
