Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Wednesday said chances are high that the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) will be restored as the outcome of the TICFA meeting held on November 23-24 in Washington. “If the GSP is not revived, TICFA meeting will be meaningless,” Tofail said while talking to reporters after a meeting with Spanish Ambassador Eduardo de Laiglesia at his office. Mentioning that the government has fulfilled all the conditions for GSP revival, the commerce minister said the TICFA meting has praised Bangladesh’s role in implementing the Action Plan for restoring the trade facility. “We have fulfilled all the 16 conditions for getting back the GSP facility. We had very fruitful discussions regarding the issue at the meeting of the US-Bangladesh Trade and Investment Forum Agreement (TICFA). The TICFA pact between Bangladesh and the US will be meaningless if the GSP is not revived. We have also sought duty-free and quota-free access to US market during the meeting,” Tofail said. “Inclusion of Bangladesh in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) has also been discussed at the meting and we have expressed strong desire to join the TPP,” he informed. Regarding the meeting with the Spanish Ambassador, he said Bangladesh’s exports to Spain will cross $2 billion mark this year as Bangladeshi products have huge demand in the Spanish market. “To materialise the potential, the government will take initiatives to export non-traditional products along with traditional items to Spain,” he said, adding that the government will provide cash incentive for exporting no-traditional items. “Exports to Spain grew by 7 percent last year. We are keen to enhance bilateral cooperation with Spain in the field of trade, infrastructure development, hospitality training,” Tofail added. Tofail said the government has decided to establish 100 special economic zones in different parts of the country, if Spain desires it will be allocated space in the economic zones to woo Spanish investment. He mentioned that the government has taken special initiatives for diversifying export products as well as the export market, and efforts are on to boost exports of agricultural ICT, pharmaceutical products, jute goods, furniture and ships. Additional Commerce Secretaries Shawkat Al Waresi, Md Jahir Udin Ahmed and Vice Chairman of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Shubhashish Bose were also present at the meeting.
