Come Thursday, the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) meeting between the officials of Bangladesh’s Commerce Ministry and the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is scheduled to be held in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka.
And Bangladesh – which counts US as a major destination for apparel exports – is expected to impress upon the visiting side to reinstate the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) once again, as per media reports.
“We expect a positive outcome from the TICFA meeting as we have improved both workplace safety and labour rights in the country as per recommendations of the USTR,” reportedly maintained Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi to the media.
This the Commerce Minister said after his meeting with a US delegation led by Assistant USTR for South and Central Asia Christopher Wilson.
It may be mentioned here that USTR suspended the trade facility in the aftermath of the tragic Rana Plaza disaster and subsequently put forth 16 conditions to be met if Bangladesh wants to get back the GSP facility.
In the fifth round of the meeting, Bangladesh is also expected to dwell on the issues related to removal of trade barriers, increasing bilateral trade, easy access to US market, intellectual property rights, apart from the all important GSP issue.
