Bangladesh to seek revival of GSP facility in TICFA meeting

Bangladesh once again will raise the issue of reinstating the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facility offered by the USA in the ensuing Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) meeting, scheduled to be held this December, in Washington DC.

The US Trade Representative (USTR) has cited some issues that should be addressed by Dhaka and might be related to the reinstatement of the GSP facility for Bangladesh’s export sectors, an official of the commerce ministry, said.

Senior Secretary to the Commerce Ministry Tapan Kanti Ghosh will attend the TICFA meeting in the first week of December.

Additional secretary and head of WTO cell Hafizur Rahman told Business Insider Bangladesh that the TICFA meeting group is yet to be formed under the commerce ministry.

The USTR has some issues like sourcing of cotton, farm products and labour rights in some designated economic zones, he added.

Hafizur also said the USTR wants Bangladesh to make it easier to form trade unions in EPZs and EZs. 

It may be mentioned here that the tenure of the latest GSP programme came to an end in 2020 and the US Congress has not revived it since then. 

In August, speaking to media, Tapan Kanti Ghosh, reportedly, said Bangladesh would still urge USTR to revive this facility for Bangladesh once the US Congress adopts a new GSP programme for different countries in future.

The USTR had suspended Bangladesh’s GSP facility citing poor labour rights and workplace safety on 27th June of 2013 in the aftermath of two industrial disasters, Tazreen Fashion fire and Rana Plaza building collapse.