Fire gadget import tax to be waived

Assistant US Trade Representative for South Asia Michael Delaney, who led the US side, described the meeting at a joint press briefing as “very productive” and “very pragmatic”.

He said the promise on which Ticfa was based was “100 percent” intact.

Dhaka and Washington singed the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) on Nov 25 last year, effective from Jan 13 this year, following more than a decade of talks.

Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed led the Bangladesh side.

The two sides ironed out issues that Delaney said “inhibit” trade and investment.

He said Ticfa was aimed at removing obstacles that stand in the way of boosting two-way trade.

Delaney said the meeting gave them better understanding that he believed “would be a good foundation to solve problems on the way”.

“We learnt a lot. Our delegation learnt a lot”.

He said they were gratified to hear Bangladesh’s announcement that it was going to eliminate tariff on equipment necessary to improve fire safety in the ready-made clothes industry.

The Commerce Secretary said they had reviewed bilateral trade and investment situation, GSP action plans, and discussed market access of goods and services, US investment in Bangladesh, transfer of technology, implementation of the Bali package and progress of the Istanbul plan of action.

He said the US side raised the issues of tariff on fire, electricity and structural safety equipment, public tender specifications, double fumigation of cotton from the US, diabetes drugs, currency issue, delayed payment, intellectual property rights and regional cooperation.

He said they had also discussed labour affairs and women employment raised by the US delegation.

He, however, did not specify outcome of all the issues the two sides raised, but maintained that the discussion was “very fruitful”.

“We discussed a wide range of trade and investment issues and ways to boost US-Bangladesh trade and investment,” the secretary said in the crowded press briefing.

Delaney said they basically tried to look at where they were right now in terms of implementing GSP Action Plan and recommended that more works need to be done.

He specified that implementation of the amended labour law and full-fledged factory safety inspection issues remained unfulfilled.

But the meeting was “highly successful”.

“It’s a great start. We look forward to working together.”

The meeting was held amid scepticism about the US-Bangladesh relations particularly after the Jan 5 elections that US did not find ‘credible’.

The US suspended GSP privilege that some of Bangladesh’s products were enjoying its market in June last year after the Rana Plaza disaster.

The US administration has been maintaining that the decision was not to penalise Bangladesh, rather to send a strong signal about the urgent need to address factory safety concerns.

But Bangladesh’s ambassador to Washington Akramul Qader recently said the US decision did not help the clothing industry recover from the shocks of Rana Plaza and Tazreen Fashions fire, rather “put the workforce into jeopardy”.

Even Finance Minister AMA Muhith has lashed out at the US saying it was refusing Bangladesh duty and quota privileges for political reasons.

The two-way trade crossed $6 billion last year with readymade clothes being the main export item.

The GSP revocation sent a negative signal worldwide, though ready-made clothes never enjoyed the facility.

The garments enter the US market after paying tariff ranging from 8 to 32 percent which Bangladesh used to say “exceptionally high” compared with other countries.

Delaney, however, said “this is incorrect” when asked why US imposed high tariff on Bangladeshi products compared with other competitors like China.

“…both Bangladesh and China are offered the most favoured nation treatment (MFNT) under WTO tariff structure,” he said.

The duty-free and quota-free discussions were dealt in the context of World Trade Organization (WTO) and more specifically under the Doha Round, which was yet to be completed, according to him.

He parried questions on the US-Bangladesh relations.

The US Ambassador Dan Mozena who was present at the press briefing replied: “I see our relation with Bangladesh is becoming ever stronger, ever broader and ever deeper”.

He said concluding Ticfa was one of his dreams. “This dream came true today.”

Mozena said Ticfa set up a platform to identify obstacles to boost bilateral trade and investment.

“I don’t know the relevance of that (politics)”.

Delaney said the basic idea was to set up a mechanism to regularly talk to each other so that “we can grow our trade and investment relationship”.

“It is born with a firm belief that trade and investment between two countries create jobs, create prosperity, and create better future for people of both countries particularly people of Bangladesh.

“That was the promise and what I saw today it verifies the promise 100 percent,” he said.

The Commerce Secretary said Bangladesh sought a preferential treatment on its products to the US market like Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean countries considering its ‘extreme’ climate vulnerability.

He said the US provides preferential treatment to some Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean countries as the US thinks those countries are more vulnerable than Bangladesh.

“We presented our logic, too (vulnerability). We told them that Bangladesh is very vulnerable due to climate change. We deserve similar benefits, and requested them to consider our vulnerability,” he said.

Bangladesh also explained that the country had a huge population and it needed a wider market access for its products, he said.

He also said Bangladesh also demanded duty- and quota-free access to the US market under ‘Bali Package’ as the US imposed high tariff on Bangladeshi products.

Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar was also present at the press briefing.

Source: BD news24