The European Union (EU) on Saturday called upon Bangladesh for necessary groundwork to ensure that the country gets access to GSP Plus regime, a preferential trade scheme. Bangladesh will lose generalised system of preferences (GSP) and may qualify for GSP Plus in the EU market with its middle-income country status. GSP Plus is an incentive for countries that have signed and ratified as well as are properly implementing 27 international conventions in the areas of human rights, labour rights, environment and governance. “…Bangladesh garment industry needs a move from GSP to GSP Plus. It is essential that we start the groundwork now,” the visiting Member of the European Parliament Sajjad Karim told reporters after an exchange of views meeting with the leaders of the country’s apparel sector. The meeting was held at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) headquarters in the city. EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Pierre Mayaudon, BGMEA President Md Atiqul Islam and its office-bearers, among others, were present in the meeting. The Sustainability Compact has been designed in a way that would help improve the safety standards of Bangladesh’s garment industry, Mr Karim said calling for implementing all the components of the compact. Bangladesh moves in the way of a maturing economy and it is essential that our relations also move in line with that maturity, he said. The Sustainability Compact is in the implementation phase and the country should not waste time in addressing all the issues outlined in the compact as it is for the safety of the workers, Mr Mayaudon said. He, however, said that the EU will offer vocational training to Bangladeshi workers for skill development. Relating to price hike in locally-made apparel products, Mr Karim said, “To the consumers, it is an issue (which is) more than price as they now want that the products are being produced ethically, meeting all the standards.” He, however, admitted that price modality and modules need to be adopted. Earlier, the BGMEA president had expressed his concern over the declining price, saying though production cost is going up, prices of apparel products are not keeping pace. “Our factories are increasingly investing in safety and sustainability. On the contrary, the price of our apparel is declining every year,” he added. Bangladesh’s apparel export price dropped by 1.40 per cent in dollar value during January to April period, he said adding, “Squeezing the price may only lead to cut corners at some end, and without fair pricing sustainability will always remain with a question mark.” He requested the visiting Member of the European Parliament to pay more attention to this issue and discuss it with the stakeholders so that they could jointly build a secured global market where workplaces and jobs would be safer and more sustainable. Mr Karim, however, condemned the death of blogger Niladri Chatterjee Niloy and requested the Bangladesh government to take necessary steps to bring the assailants to justice.
