Apparel exporters have decided not to appoint lobbyists anymore to try reinstating GSP privilege in the US market as Dhaka is preparing to participate a hearing in December.
“This time we have no plan to appoint any lobbyist,” said Reaz-Bin-Mahmood, Vice President (Finance) of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). “It’s just a waste of millions of dollars and nothing else.”
Recalling the past experience, he termed the previous appointments of lobbyists were just failures.
Earlier in 2005 and 2007, BGMEA had appointed lobbyists for getting duty-free access to the US mar-ket, spending stacks of money, but there was no success.
The decision was a U-turn from its earlier position that BGMEA would be appointing lobbyists in line with the government’s advice following the Rana Plaza tragedy in April.
“The efforts taken by the government and the BGMEA are enough to improve working conditions in the factories, and we hope the lost image will return,” said the BGMEA leader.
The US has agreed to reconsider GSP reinstatement after Bangladesh’s Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque had a long meeting with the US Ambassador to Dhaka Dan W Mozena recently.
The latest development comes after the US suspended the trade benefits to Bangladesh under GSP last month due to “insufficient” progress in protecting the internationally recognised labour rights and after making amendments to the labour law.
General System of Preference (GSP) is a trade privilege outlined by the US authorities for Bangladesh along with other countries to provide preferential accesses in the form of reduced tariff to their mar-ket.
Bangladesh, as a developing country, enjoys the benefits in the developed countries like the US and the European Union.
Though Bangladesh is a least developed country, it has been exporting garments to the US by paying an average duty of 15.3%, which is higher compared to what developed and developing countries pay.
Bangladesh paid more than $600m in duty for exporting garments worth $5bn in 2011, while China, the world’s largest apparel supplier, pays 3% duty on garment exports to the US market.
Bangladesh’s garment industry, which relies on cheaper labour to keep itself competitive, is the main-stay of the economy, making up 40% of its industrial workforce and 80% of annual exports.