US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan W Mozena has hinted that the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (Ticfa) between Bangladesh and US might be signed in the US capital.
“If everyone agrees to signTicfa, the best place to do so would be Washington,” he told the Dhaka Tribune after meeting with Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque at the ministry on Wednesday.
Commerce secretary of Bangladesh and an official of the US Trade Representatives would sign the agreement, he said after the hour-long meeting.
The cabinet in June endorsed Ticfa and later the foreign ministry sent it to Washington along with its Bengali version for US approval in July.
When asked whether it would be signed, Mozena said: “I cannot give you any timeframe.”
Meanwhile, the foreign secretary said they were working on fixing the modalities.“The ambassador came back from Washington recently and met me to brief on the development there,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
Ministries of Foreign, Labour and Commerce are working together to fulfil the conditions of the plan of action announced by Washington on July 19 for restoring the generalised system of preference (GSP), the secretary said.
Mozena on the other hand said, “We continue to working together on how to best address the restoration of GSP.”
Labour rights, fire safety and factory soundness are the three major issues to be addressed under the action plan, he added.
Bangladesh, in December, will get the opportunity to place its case for restoration of GSP before the US authorities, Mozena said.
US President Barrack Obama on June 27 announced suspension of Bangladesh’s GSP facility on grounds of poor labour rights situation.