Faruque Ahmed
The suspension of the GSP facility by the US government has come as a big setback but not as a surprise to the nation. The US government was giving warning signals for years but seemingly the government and the industry owners were not taking it seriously to comply with their recommendations.
Now that the US government has taken action, the government is squarely putting the blame on BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia for ‘asking’ the US establishment to scrap the facility. Others say Prof. Mohammad Yunus had a hand behind it.
It should be stated in all fairness that the RMG owners were never eager to take any step required to maintain GSP facility and improve working conditions in RMG factories because it would add to their cost and the government could not enforce it because they are an influential lot. Many government leaders or their family members own garment factories and they were against any change. Around 32 Members of Parliament are RMG owners thirty of them belong to the ruling party and it is easy to understand why the government could not enforce GSP compliance in their factories.
Even after the Tajren Fashion fire killing well over 120, US ambassador Den W Mozena called for safety measures at work places, saying a ‘perfect storm’ may hit the country’s trade interest if there is no significant action. The government and the industry owners however, remained indifferent. Then came the Rana Plaza collapse leaving about 1127 workers dead to further aggravate the outcry for actions against Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, garment industry owners spent time lobbying to secure Tk 1000 crore budgetary allocation to relocate their factories and renovate old buildings. It did not work for lack of resources. On the other hand, BGMEA, the apex body of garment manufacturers and exporters, reportedly ignored a government request to engage a lobbyist in the USA to work with the US administration to push for continuation of GSP facility and other trade promotion actions. BGMEA argue that since apparel items do not enjoy US duty free facility, why should they spend money on that account. In this backdrop the US government made the announcement suspending GSP facilities. It may however review the action again in December, Washington said; which means that the administration is ready to restore it provided the basic compliance measures and trade union rights to workers were ensured in the meantime.
It is true, as analysts say, Bangladesh’s major export items to the USA, such as ready made garments and frozen food do not enjoy the GSP facility and hence its export will not be affected immediately. But the question has arisen about Bangladesh as a credible trading partner to the global community. Clearly, the USA has branded Bangladesh as a country where clothes being made in sweat and blood. They used the Tajreen Fashion tragedy and the Rana Plaza tragedy as the immediate cause of the trade action and it is going to hurt Bangladesh trade interest to other regions as well.
In fact, the USTR (United States Trade Representative), which is equivalent to our commerce ministry, has been asking Dhaka since 2007 to improve the workers conditions in factories and allowing them trade union rights. They were also asking for action against the killers of garment labour leader Aminul Islam because he was fighting for the workers right at work places. But the demand was ignored because it is rumoured that big hands were involved in his killing.
After the fresh Rana Plaza tragedy, the US labour and industry lobbies such as AFL-CIO pushed for fresh hearing on the workers rights situation in Bangladesh. President Obama’s announcement to suspend GSP came in the light of such development after several months of hearing.
The US said they had put a signal that Bangladesh must improve the workers’ conditions. Otherwise more trade actions may follow, such as diverting US buyers from Bangladesh to third country sources. In fact, many orders are already shifting to Vietnam, Cambodia or Indonesia now as US consumers lobbies are also bringing pressure on big buying houses not to buy from Bangladesh.
The European Union, however, said they would not scrap the GSP facilities now which cover all Bangladesh export items, except arms. But there is also big pressure from them to install fire and building safety at work places.
Our foreign minister has broken all past records by undertaking over 1000 foreign trips during the past four and a half years. But vital trade interest remains neglected all through reflecting that Bangladesh is not having a focused foreign policy and setback is coming one after another.
Source: Weekly Holiday