The government has sent a report on progress in fulfilling conditions needed to get back the Generalised System of Preference (GSP) in the US market, commerce minister Tofail Ahmed has said.
“Most of the 16 conditions set by them have been fulfilled,” he told reporters at the secretariat on Tuesday.
The report, sent to the office of the US Trade Representative, also makes it clear the conditions yet to be complied with and the reasons for that, Ahmed said.
“We will get back the GSP facility, if it is considered from an economic standpoint and not from a political one.”
Tofail said that the government was considering to allow trade unions for garment factory workers.
The US Trade Representative Michael Froman informed Bangladesh in June last year about President Barack Obama’s decision to stop the GSP facility for Bangladesh.
He said then that the decision would stand until the factory environment of Bangladesh improved.
Around 5,000 products from Bangladesh enjoyed duty-free entry in to the US market under the GSP facility until it was suspended.
Readymade garments, however, was not one of them.
Source: Bd news24
