Bangladesh has not filed a petition with the US government to restore the generalised systems of preferences (GSP), a US embassy official in Dhaka told reporters yesterday. Confirming this, a commerce ministry official said Bangladesh has decided in principle not to raise the issue with the US government as it wanted to provide GSP for only four products—ceramics, plastic, tobacco and table ware. “The amount of GSP is very small and not significant for our country’s economy. This is why Bangladesh will not file a petition for GSP restoration despite it fulfilling all the criteria of the trade privilege scheme,” he said. “Our major export item is RMG products that enter the USA market by paying 16% duty, which is highest among all export countries,” he added. The Obama administration had suspended GSP facilities for Bangladesh, citing concerns over factory safety and workers’ rights. Following this, Bangladesh had signed a 16-point action plan for restoration of the trade privilege.  Bangladesh has twice submitted progress reports on the action plan to the United States Trade Representative (USTR), but in vain.

Regarding the USTR refusal, the US embassy official said Bangladesh was yet to fulfil all the criteria of the 16-point action plan for the restoration of GSP facilities.

He said Bangladeshi factories still needed to fulfil some criteria to be at par with prescribed international standards, including the setting up of labour unions in all units.

“There is still need for some improvement in work atmosphere and pace as well as amendment of the existing labour law as per the suggestion of the International Labour Organization (ILO),” he added.

The two countries had signed the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) in November 2013 to establish an annual forum to identify and remove barriers for increased bilateral trade and investment.

Speaking on the issue, the embassy official said American companies played a major role in the power and energy sectors in Bangladesh. “US companies produce over 55% of Bangladesh’s domestic natural gas supply and they are among the largest investors in power projects here. At present, US-origin power turbines provide 80% of Bangladesh’s installed gas-fired power generation capacity,” he informed.

He added that there was also huge potential for US companies to invest in Bangladesh’s infrastructure and food sectors as the middle class was growing radically over the years.

Praising the country’s GDP growth in the past few years, the official said Bangladesh could potentially graduate beyond LDC by 2024.

He, however, expressed concern over corruption in public sector, saying that remained an obstacle for more US investments in Bangladesh.

About the low price for Bangladeshi readymade garment products offered by US retailers, the official said it was a bilateral issue and open to bargaining.