At a time when speculations are rife as to whether the readymade garment industry of Bangladesh would be able to hold on to its competitive edge once the country gets promoted as a developing nation, the country’s Commerce Minister has dispelled such fears claiming that Bangladesh has attained the abilities to compete with developing nations in global trade, notwithstanding the transition.
“Bangladesh would continue to progress facing competitiveness even after its graduation from the LDC,” Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed reportedly stated at the 35th founding anniversary of Micro Industries Development Assistance and Services (MIDAS), at MIDAS Centre, in capital Dhaka, adding further that those who had once termed Bangladesh as a “bottomless basket” are now branding it as the role model of development for the world.
It may be mentioned here that given Bangladesh’s rate of progress, the country is expected to graduate from the Least Developed Country (LDC) status by 2024. However, considering the fears of losing the country’s competitiveness, the Government is reportedly going full throttle in pushing for FTAs for its apparel export destinations.
It already seems to have made a clear headway in garnering GSP status from Japan, which has reportedly assured Bangladesh that it will ensure duty-free facility for imports from the country while the European Union (EU) too has reiterated its commitment to ensure tariff-free trade benefits for the country.
The country is also reportedly pushing for an FTA with the USA. Describing Bangladesh as a middle-income state, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed recently underlined that Bangladesh doesn’t need the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) facility from the United States any more.
“We will form a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the USA to boost up bilateral trade relations,” reportedly underlined Tofail Ahmed while maintaining that United States is the principal market for Bangladesh with US $ 6 billion export business, which is still expanding.
