Bangladesh urges duty-free access for goods made of US cotton

Black_cats · May 22, 2023

Bangladesh urges duty-free access for goods made of US cotton

Bangladesh relaxed the mandatory requirement of performing fumigation of the cotton imported from the United States

File photo of cotton plants Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune
Tribune Desk
Published: May 22, 2023 8:33 AM | Last updated: May 22, 2023 8:33 AM

Bangladesh again requested the United States for a duty-free market facility for readymade garments (RMG) made from imported US cotton, as preferential access of its exports has long been withheld.

Senior Secretary at Commerce Ministry Tapan Kanti Ghosh told reporters about the matter at a press conference after a meeting with senior United States Trade Representative (USTR) officials at his secretariat office on Sunday.

"We demanded duty-free access for RMG products made from US cotton. The duty-free-market issue had been discussed in the last meeting of the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) held in the US in December 2022," said Ghosh.

He, however, said they (USTR representatives) assured they will discuss the duty- free issue and it was discussed in the US Congress.

The USTR said the US government does not provide duty-free benefits for RMG from any particular country.

Bangladesh relaxed the mandatory requirement of performing fumigation of the cotton imported from the United States.

Cotton imported from the US currently needs showing sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) and boll weevil-free certificates of the US exporting authorities at the port of entry here, he added.

The USTR officials mentioned the issue of intellectual property-rights violations on counterfeit-goods export as claimed earlier by the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) and the Paris-based Union des Fabricants (UNIFAB).

But the commerce secretary strongly refused the claim, saying that no counterfeit goods are exported from Bangladesh.

The commerce secretary said: "We can't take responsibility for any counterfeit goods if any country exports their counterfeit items in the name of Bangladesh."

Ghosh assured the USTR representatives that if they (US) have any complaint on a counterfeiting issue, they should inform the Commerce Ministry, and then it would take action as required.

The USTR also stressed improvement in the business climate of the country for attracting more US investment in Bangladesh.

Ghosh said the government has regularly been working to improve the investment climate.

Import-registration certificate (IRC) and export-registration certificate (ERC), rules of origin and certificates of the environment department have been eased already.

He explained that the tenure of the trade licences has been extended to five years instead of a one-year renewal culture. Besides, a move is now underway to extend the bond-licence period.

Bangladesh also requested the US to extend its support to Bangladesh in obtaining the extension of the LDC facility beyond 2026 in the forum of the World Trade Organization (WTO).