UK reiterates tariff-free access for Bangladeshi goods

Tariff-free access to Bangladeshi goods, education, labour rights in the garment industry, and the Rohingya crisis were among the key issues that featured in the second Bangladesh-UK Strategic Dialogue held in London on Thursday. “The Strategic Dialogue is a chance for the two governments to bring in their respective perspectives on the priorities of both sides. This comes at a time when the UK is leaving the European Union (EU) and Bangladesh is graduating towards a middle-income status,” said Md Khorshed A Khastagir, Director General of West Europe and EU in the Bangladeshi government. “The status quo is changing for both parties in different ways," said Md Khorshed. "We are trying to map our priorities and go for a more engaging and win-win kind of partnership." The dialogue was led by the Permanent Under-Secretary at the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Sir Simon McDonald, and his Bangladeshi counterpart, Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque of the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It involved an exchange of views on political and bilateral issues, economic and development cooperation, security and defence cooperation, and exchanges on current global issues, including the Rohingya crisis. “I repeated the UK’s commitment to continue tariff-free market access for Bangladeshi goods entering the UK market after the UK leaves the European Union,” said McDonald. “We appreciated the UK government’s firm commitment to continue to provide duty-free, quota-free market access to Bangladeshi goods to the UK market after it leaves the European Union,” said Haque. The UK restated its commitment to maintain a high-quality service for Bangladeshi nationals at the visa application centres in Dhaka and Sylhet. It also looks forward to the early implementation of Cross-Border Higher Education Rules, which will allow British universities to operate in Bangladesh. Both countries agreed on the importance of education for women and girls, while the UK welcomed the significant progress Bangladesh has made in this area. Britain also welcomed Bangladesh’s continued commitment to take back its citizens who no longer have the right to remain in the UK. While the UK congratulated Bangladesh for being on course to graduating to a middle-income country, both countries agreed that trade was an important tool in tackling poverty, and that an increased bilateral trade could bring significant benefits to both countries. Haque added: “We agreed on planning for a future development partnership focused on innovation, knowledge, skills development and employment while continuing to ensure that no one is left behind, especially women, girls, and people with disabilities.” The UK encouraged Bangladesh to continue addressing human and labour rights issues in the garment industries. Both sides affirmed their strong commitment to the implementation of the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” including Sustainable Development Goals. The UK and Bangladesh reiterated the importance of coordinated global action on climate change and reaffirmed their strong support for early and effective implementation of the Paris Agreement of 2015. Bangladesh and the UK agreed to work closely in support of Prime Minister Theresa May’s goal to cultivate a new, global and coordinated approach to eliminate forced labour and human trafficking. Other than that, the countries reaffirmed their support for the Commonwealth and looked forward to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, to be held in London next month. Both sides agreed to arrange appropriate celebrations in London and Dhaka in 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the UK and Bangladesh. “We highlighted the valuable contribution that the British-Bangladeshi community continues to contribute to British society and prosperity,” Haque said. The third Strategic Dialogue will be held in Dhaka in 2019. The Dialogue was launched last year to foster closer ties with the UK as Bangladesh’s largest bilateral development partner.This article was first published on banglatribune.com