Bangladesh will not get duty- and quota-free market access to the USA unless it regains the generalised system of preferences facilities.
“If ever there were duty-free, quota-free regime in America, it would be implemented most likely through GSP. So, [if] Bangladesh does not have the GSP privileges, then it would be hard to implement [the] duty-free quota-free [market access],” US ambassador to Bangladesh Dan Mozena said.
He was speaking at a country lecture programme at the Bangladesh Institute of International and Startegic Studies in the city yesterday.
“So, the first step is to get the GSP back; and then Bangladesh will need to strategise how best to make its case to the Congress,” Mozena said.
Last year, US scrapped the facility for Bangladesh on grounds that labour conditions here were poor.
The US ambassador said reinstatement of GSP facility was now not the issue in his views.
“I believe the issue is when will Bangladesh have taken the steps needed to ensure that the country never again experiences another Rana Plaza, that it never again experiences another Tazreen Fashions fire,” he said.
He also said Bangladesh might well be on the road to transforming the apparel sector and bringing it to international standards in terms of fire safety, soundness of factory structure and respect for workers’ rights.
source: Dhakatribune