Bangladesh needs to develop a long-term strategy and action plan, sign trade deals to maintain existing export market access and attract investment mainly to face the post-graduation challenges including erosion of duty benefit.
\nBangladeshi made garment will face about 11.6 per cent duty after 2029 which is now zero per cent, reports news agency BSS.
\nBangladesh has been the single largest beneficiary of EU LDC-specific trade preferences as its exports rose to US$23.2 billion in last fiscal which was only US$2.0 billion in 2000-01.
\nThe country is also taking the advantage of China\u2019s market share most in the EU market mainly because of the duty benefit while Vietnam gains most from China shift to US market.
\nThe statistics were presented and suggestions made at a seminar on \u201850 years of EU-Bangladesh Partnership: Charting Ahead on a Legacy of Success\u2019 held at a city hotel on Tuesday.
\nResearch and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID) and Fredrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Bangladesh organised the seminar.
\nPrime Minister\u2019s economic affairs advisor Mashiur Rahman was the chief guest while EU ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley was special guest at the seminar moderated by Dhaka University professor and executive director of RAPID, M Abu Eusuf.
\nUNDP Bangladesh country economist Nazneen Ahmed moderated a panel discussion while resident representative of FES Bangladesh Felix Kolbitz, among others, also spoke.
\nPresenting the keynote paper, RAPID chairman MA Razzaque showed how EU\u2019s LDC tariff preference helped Bangladesh raising its clothing export market share there, making the country world\u2019s second largest clothing exporter.
\nTaking advantage of tariff preference, Bangladesh captures more than 22 per cent of extra-EU apparel imports, he noted.
\nBangladesh still has huge export potential in the EU as only 60 per cent of export potential is currently being utilised.
\nBangladesh\u2019s graduation in 2026 would result in immediate cessation of LDC-related trade preferences in most countries including Canada, China, India, and Japan, he said, adding that only the EU and the UK would provide an additional three-year transition period until 2029.
\nIn comparison, while Bangladesh stands to lose trade preferences, free trade agreements could allow its competitors to gain competitive advantages in the EU.
\nCiting example, RAPID chairman MA Razzaque further said Vietnam will enjoy zero duty to the EU by this time due to its FTA with EU.
\nHe also recommended for developing a national-level consensus on the options about emerging issues like EU Green Deal and its carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and any policy shifts in the EU.
\nPrime Minister\u2019s economic affairs advisor Mashiur Rahman called for improving labour force quality, export product diversification, investment in service sectors including health and education.
\nMashiur also preferred not to allow bringing such money in the country, saying it distorts market.
\nProfessor of International Relations at Dhaka University, Imtiaz Ahmed, said money from Bangladesh is laundered to EU which is \u2018serious problem\u2019.
\nHe noted that money laundering itself a corruption but corruption itself is not the problem. If the corruption money is getting reinvested in Bangladesh it could have been productive but it was getting reinvested in Europe.
\nRegarding the Bangladeshi Diaspora there, he said the community are different from that of Vietnam saying local diaspora are not engaged in business or investment here in the country and sought EU\u2019s support so that they make investment in not only in industries but also in other areas like education and entertainment.
\nWhiteley said EU has a wide ranging relationship with Bangladesh in last 50 years and it is now changing towards development of humanitarian assistance and trade.
\nEU businesses want to come here but still there is sometimes untoward obstacles to investing or bring them able to a win-win situation, he added.
\nEU has US$2.0 billion investment stock here in Bangladesh while US$6.0 billion in Vietnam.
\n\u201cI think this can change and change quickly if policy makes right in Bangladesh side,\u201d he said, terming Bangladesh a great place to do business.
\nHe, however, stressed for improving the situation further.
\nExplaining the measures they are taking to overcome the challenges, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Faruque Hassan urged the EU to extend the transition period by six-year for Bangladesh after its graduation from least developed country in 2026.
\nTaking the geo-political situation, Russia-Ukraine war, Rohingya crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic into consideration, the EU should allow its duty free market access for Bangladesh up to 2032, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bangladesh needs to develop a long-term strategy and action plan, sign trade deals to maintain existing export market access and attract investment mainly to face the post-graduation challenges including erosion of duty benefit. Bangladeshi made garment will face about 11.6 per cent duty after 2029 which is now zero per cent, reports news agency BSS. Bangladesh has been the single largest beneficiary of EU LDC-specific trade preferences as its exports rose to US$23.2 billion in last fiscal which was only US$2.0 billion in 2000-01. The country is also taking the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bangladesh"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=967"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":969,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions\/969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}