Bangladesh is considering US proposal for holding bilateral talks in Washington under the Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement (Ticfa) on November 23-24, with the GSP issue in mind, official sources said. They said the commerce ministry got down to reviewing the date after getting the proposal from the US side to hold the two-day meet, second of its kind since the deal was signed in 2013, so that it does not get overlapped with other schedules at state level. “We have got the proposal from the United States to hold the meeting on November 23 and 24. We are now working on it,” said senior secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon. The official, however, said confirmation in this regard will be given after checking some other things, including availability of all concerned who are likely to attend the meeting. Sources said the Foreign Secretary who attends the Tifca meeting as an important partner may have tight schedule for attending Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) beginning November 27. The Ministry of Commerce leads the US-Bangladesh bilateral meeting from the Bangladesh side. But other ministries, mainly the Ministries of Labour and Employment, and Foreign Affairs, will also attend from the context of involvement of trade and investment opportunities with the US. Bangladesh and the USA struck the much-talked-about Ticfa deal on November 25, 2013 in Washington after almost a decade-long negotiation. Although it has created a forum for addressing issues such as environment, intellectual-property protection, workers’ rights and safety, and economic empowerment of women, the first Ticfa meeting was held in April 2014 against the backdrop of a tragic incident like the Rana Plaza collapse in the garment sector. The first meeting ended with an action plan and compact was formulated to bolster trade and investment between the two countries, mainly through meeting the compliance requirements for getting back the GSP facility for the readymade garment sector. Sources said holding the second Ticfa meeting is now dependent on some important issues from both the sides since there has been “disappointments” from the Bangladesh side over GSP suspension and non-revival of the facility even after more than one-and-a-half-year groundwork. The government claims that majority of the conditions set in the sustainability compact related to garment industry were met. Sources said the US side wanted to focus more on holding compact meeting before the Ticfa talks. They said the government has already said about its readiness to hold the compact meeting in the first week of January for not getting any convenient schedule in December due to the World Trade Organisation meetings. Asked about any possibility of shifting the Ticfa date, sources said any change in the schedule may linger the meeting for the sustainability compact.
