There is a possibility of Bangladesh winning back trade privileges to the American market at the end of the year, when the United States Trade Representative convenes for appraisal, said a former US ambassador yesterday.“At the end of this year GSP comes up for renewal. I personally believe that Bangladesh will find a place in the schedule,” said Frank G Wisner, the former US ambassador to Zambia, Egypt and India.The former US diplomat’s comments came at the regular luncheon meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh, held at the capital’s Westin Hotel.Wisner did not elaborate further on what basis the trade privilege, which was suspended in June 2013 for poor labour rights and weak workplace safety, would be reinstated.He, however, called for protection of human rights in Bangladesh.After the suspension of the Generalised Systems of Preferences scheme Bangladesh signed up for a 16-point action plan to get it back.The country twice submitted its progress reports on the action plan to the USTR but in vain. Rather, the USTR said a lot needs to be done for regaining the privilege.Meanwhile, Wisner, who served as the chief of the Political Section in the US embassy in Dhaka from July 1973 until March 1974, said he was impressed with what the country has achieved over the years.“I am particularly impressed by how you transformed your economy,” he said, while singling out the country’s export diversification — from jute to textiles and heavy industry fields like ship building — for praise.Going forward, the emergence of religious extremism and intolerance are one of the challenges for the country, he said. “But, Bangladesh has the tradition of tolerance,” he added.Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said Bangladesh has made a lot of progress in improvement of workplace safety and labour rights after the suspension of GSP.“We do not need the GSP. We started to forget about GSP,” the minister said while addressing the businessmen at the meeting.The reason being Bangladesh’s main export item to the US, apparel, is excluded from the GSP.Bangladesh’s apparel exports are subjected to 15.62 percent duty upon entry to the US, whereas the duty for other countries is much lower.The US importers paid nearly $5 billion as duty to the customs for their apparel imports from Bangladesh over the last five years, according to Ahmed.Bangladesh exported goods worth $23 million under the GSP in 2013, when the trade privilege was suspended.Marcia Bernicat, US ambassador in Bangladesh, said Bangladesh’s exports to the US doubled in the last 10 years to $6.8 billion at the end of fiscal 2016-17.Regarding bilateral relations between Bangladesh and the US, Bernicat said the two countries discussed several market access issues including workplace safety, labour rights, US investment in Bangladesh and the digital economy of Bangladesh in the third Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement that took place in May in Dhaka.She is hopeful that Bangladesh will amend the labour law and EPZ law to make these to international standards in keeping with the country’s commitment at the International Labour Conference. Md Nurul Islam, president of the AmCham, chaired the meeting.
