Bangladesh on Wednesday urged the European Union not to exclude clothing exports from any tariff preferences including the GSP+ privilege.
Secretaries for foreign affairs, commerce and labour, during their joint meeting with the visiting EU delegation, highlighted Bangladesh’s successful use of the current ‘everything but arms’ privileges in the EU market and said that that success had to be encouraged, not punished.
“Readymade clothes comprise 85 percent of our export. If we don’t get benefits for that, any tariff preferences will be meaningless for us. It has to be included,” Commerce secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh said, while replying to a question, after the meeting at the state guesthouse Padma.
Deputy Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific at the European External Action Service (EEAS) Paola Pampaloni led the EU delegation.
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, and Labour Secretary Md. Ehsan-E-Elahi also briefed the media along with the Commerce Secretary.
The issue of garments came as after the graduation from the LDC, Bangladesh would be eligible for the GSP+ from the current GSP privilege.
According to the EU’s proposed GSP+ provisions, there would be some specified EU safeguards that would exclude the country’s clothing exports from any tariff preferences.
“Bangladesh is the most successful country of the EU’s trade policy. We could properly use that (everything but arms policy). Our people, our entrepreneurs could use that. So, our success cannot be punished. You have to encourage the success and that’s why if needed change your legislation,” the commerce secretary said.
“We have conveyed that to them and requested them to give reports accordingly,” he said.
The EU monitoring mission arrived in Dhaka on Sunday and would conclude their mission on Thursday after assessing the compliance of Bangladesh with its commitments under the “Everything But Arms” (EBA) trade arrangement.
The EBA arrangement offers duty free and quota free access to the EU market to the Least Developed Countries that respect the core conventions on human and labour rights.
Bangladesh is the largest beneficiary of the EBA, with exports to the EU market reaching 24 billion euros in 2022, according to the EU.
The monitoring team met with Bangladesh government officials, civil society representatives, trade unions, ready-made garments brands and the BGMEA.
In a statement, the EU officials welcomed progress made on safety standards in the garment sector and noted some positive steps towards improving economic and social rights.
"Challenges, however, remain in both labour and human rights.”
“On human rights, more efforts are needed to comply with the core EBA conventions, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), safeguarding the freedom of expression, freedom of association, the right to peaceful assembly, and creating an enabling environment for civil society to carry out its activities.”
The EU encouraged Bangladesh to accept and implement the recommendations of the 2023 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in this regard.
On labour rights, the mission recommends that Bangladesh step up its efforts to ensure that its policies and practices are aligned with International Labour Organization’s (ILO) standards.
The monitoring mission stressed the need to fully implement the National Action Plan on the Labour Sector (NAP), in particular with regard to guaranteeing freedom of association, collective bargaining, and an inclusive and representative participation of labour unions through tripartite consultation.
The mission regretted that the recent amendments of the Bangladesh Labour Act only partially addressed the concerns of the EU and ILO.
The mission welcomed the commitment by the government to swiftly introduce further amendments of the Bangladesh Labour Law towards these objectives.
Noting delays in the agreed timetable under the NAP, the EU team urged the authorities to accelerate the necessary reforms.
Deputy Managing Director Paola Pampaloni said: “The visit to Bangladesh has provided a valuable opportunity to engage with key stakeholders on the importance of fulfilling the human rights and labour rights that are an intrinsic part of the EBA arrangement. We will continue to work closely with the Bangladesh authorities, business, civil society and trade unions to accelerate the necessary reforms.”
The EU will continue the enhanced monitoring process of EBA compliance through the existing bilateral dialogue with the government of Bangladesh and all stakeholders.
The next EU GSP report, which includes a detailed assessment of compliance by Bangladesh with the EBA conditionality, will be published at the end of November.
The EU will take stock of progress on the reforms at the next EU-Bangladesh Joint Commission, which is foreseen to take place in Spring 2024, they said in a statement.
