Bangladesh Wants to Return to GSP
A U.S. readout of a trade meeting with Bangladesh said that Bangladesh would like to return to the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program -- which has been expired for two years. Bangladesh was cut from the program in 2013, after the disastrous Rana Plaza apparel factory collapse that killed more than 1,000 workers. In the last year it participated, Bangladesh exported almost $35 million worth of goods covered by GSP; it was not in the top 20 countries, as the bulk of Bangladesh's exports to the U.S. are textiles, apparel and footwear, none of which are covered by GSP.
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The Trade and Investment Cooperation Agreement meeting was held Dec. 6, co-chaired by Christopher Wilson, assistant U.S. trade representative for South and Central Asian Affairs, and Tapan Kanti Ghosh, secretary, Bangladesh Ministry of Commerce.
The U.S. said Bangladesh needs to implement and enforce "labor laws to protect workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, and to a safe and healthy workplace. The United States emphasized greater alignment between Bangladesh’s domestic labor laws and international labor standards, in particular by extending fundamental rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining to the export processing zones (EPZs) and special economic zones (SEZs)."
The U.S. also said that Bangladesh discussed facilitating imports of some U.S. agricultural products by using science and risk-based sanitary and phytosanitary rules.