Anwarul Islam
The news of suspending Genaralised System of Preferences ( GSP ) for Bangladesh by the United States Government has been received here with high degree of distress and pain. In the past we had misfortune of being focuses in the international media for natural disasters, then for some time past we were in news for fire and building collapses in the garment industry. And now we learnt that we will be deprived of preferential treatment of tariff received in the field of industries for at least six months when the decision is reviewed.
Statement that some people were surprised at this treatment is highly simplistic, because talks and apprehensions of such actions were being discussed for about six years and intermittently hogged the media headlines for years. It will require serious probe whether attempts to take action for fulfilling the conditions to retain the facilities in all these years were well meaning or just perfunctory. Fortunately for us the items in the suspended list are rather short – less than one per cent of Bangladesh’s total exports to the US. Ready Made Garment is not in the suspended list and the decision would again be reviewed in six months time. For those directly affected by the decision is likely to be negligible, but it would be naïve to think that way and relax. We are, however, lucky that the European Union (EU) has refused to follow the US lead. The member countries of the EU who buy over 60% of our products will, therefore, are not going to act immediately. But the US decision is likely to adversely affect our image globally. Besides, mental agony for the country is enormous and is a big blow to our national pride. It seems that this has happened because of our poor prioritization of foreign policy issues and inept handling of the issue by the peoples concerned. No doubt it came as a shock because it came from one of our friendliest countries What went wrong The issues involved and their solutions were well known to the concerned functionaries. These issues surfaced from time to time and widely discussed at the highest policy-making level but the concerned officials seemingly lacked courage to forcefully argue with the political leadership to come to a correct decision. As the political leadership was busier with domestic political issues, foreign and other issues were ignored and seemingly swept under the rug.
As a sovereign nation we are not required to go by other people’s words. However, this is a common knowledge that we are dependent on others for development assistance and foreign trade and direct foreign investment (FDI).While all countries are not equal, there also exist interdependency and one also needs to evaluate one’s own country’s relative advantages and disadvantages. This requires deep and cultivated knowledge and understanding about global, regional and sub-regional geopolitical compulsions and when to apply the advantages, if any, with care and subtlety. If we do not set our own house in order ourselves, our friends can always advise us. We could have benefited if we had acted correctly keeping our enlightened self interest in mind.
Unfortunately, we failed to follow this and acted rigidly with ‘could not care less’ attitude. National and foreign media have summarized the reasons behind the GSP suspension. Whether this is the case of the government’s abject failure in governance, mishandling of the multi-billion dollar Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project, destabilization of the Grameen Bank and continuously humiliating its founder Professor M. Yunus a person who is honoured the world over for reasons unfathomable or consistently failing to take appropriate actions in RMG sector, all these seemed to have added up for this unsettling result. People will have to see that the guilty are taken to task and sooner the better. Concrete actions for fulfilling the suggestions to the issues raised, including the remuneration package, will save the country from street violence routinely flare up from time to time.
Prompt and determined actions may let us overcome the present stigma; our goal should be to overcome this even before the six month period underlined. Actions asked for should be taken immediately in our own interest. Concerned Ministries and organisations should act in close collaboration and strict monitoring is called for. The writer is a former secretary to the government.
Source: Weekly Holiday
