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similar duty benefits like Sri Lanka and Pakistan under World Trade
Organisation (WTO) rules, said Mujibur Rahman, chairman of Bangladesh
Tariff Commission (BTC). Although Bangladesh is a least developed
country (LDC), it will seek the benefits, as it fears to lose
compositeness to developing Sri Lanka and Pakistan as they are
already getting privileges from the US for their embattled political
situation, he said. Discussions are running to bring down the tariff
rates at five percent for five selected garment items of Sri Lanka
and Pakistan within five years. At present, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
and Pakistan are paying 15 percent duty on export of garment
products to US market. Talking to The Daily Star over phone, Rahman
said the LDCs are not supposed to pay higher duty for exporting
products to the developed countries. He said Bangladesh has already
started lobbying the US government through its mission there to
reduce the tariff rate. Rahman said a high-powered committee on WTO
negotiation is taking preparation to table the issue both in the
LDCs' mini- ministerial meeting in Tanzania to be held on October
14-16 and WTO Summit in Geneva from November 30- December 2.
Tanzania is the coordinator of LDCs for WTO negotiation. "Bangladesh
will also continue bilateral and multilateral negotiations for
gaining duty- and quota-free market access to the US," the BTC
chairman said. BGMEA President Abdus Salam Murshedy said Pakistan is
now performing well in exporting some garment products to the US
market. The US has also taken some initiatives to give more
facilities to Pakistan. "In end of June 2009 the US House of
Representatives passed a symbolic legislation providing duty-free
access to apparel made in tribal area in Pakistan. It is to
encourage Islamabad military offensive against Taliban and Al-Qaeda,"
he said, quoting from the PEACE Act 2009 of US. "So I think
Bangladesh will suffer from such benefits offered to Pakistan," the
BGMEA boss said. A senior official of Bangladesh Garment
Manufacturers and Exporters Association ( BGMEA) said the country paid
a total of $576 million as duty against its export of nearly $3
billion to US in 2008. Bangladesh mainly exported woven and knitwear
to the market during the year, the BGMEA official said. He said
France, being an advanced economy, also paid the same amount of duty
although it (France) exported 15 times higher than that of
Bangladesh to the US during the period. Meanwhile, the Tariff Relief
Assistance for Developing Economies (TRADE) Act 2009 was tabled
recently before the Committee on Finance of the US government to help
some of the poorest countries sustain export and economic growth.
This legislation will provide duty- and quota- free benefits for
garments and other products similar to those afforded to beneficiary
countries under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. The countries
covered by this legislation are the 14 LDCs as defined by the UN and
the US State Department, which are not covered by any current US
trade preference programme. The countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
Bhutan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Laos, the Maldives, Nepal, Samoa,
Solomon Islands, East Timor, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Yemen. The bill also
includes Sri Lanka as an eligible country.
