GSP hearing in December

The next hearing on Bangladesh’s preferential trading status will be held in December, Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed has said.

He met with US Ambassador Dan Mozena in Dhaka on Wednesday.

“He informed us verbally that the hearing will be held in December,” Ahmed told bdnews24.com.

The labour, and foreign secretaries also attended the meeting with the US ambassador at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where they discussed the latest development after the US decision of suspending Bangladesh’s GSP privilege.

Secretary Ahmed said they mainly discussed the US action plan recently rolled out for Bangladesh to get back the GSP benefits. “We have conveyed what steps we have taken so far,” he said.

The meeting was held as the ambassador Mozena would leave for the US on Saturday where, the Secretary said, he would inform Washington about Bangladeshi steps.

The US on June 27 suspended Bangladesh’s GSP facility as a symbolic move to pressurise the country to improve working conditions and garment industry’s safety that have cost more than 1,200 lives in the past one year.

The garment industry does not enjoy the facility.

Weeks after the decision, the US government on July 19 rolled out an ‘Action Plan’ outlining measures that Bangladesh must take to protect workers’ rights and ensure workers safety in factories to get back the trade benefit.

The action plan also calls for increasing the number of labour, fire and building inspectors and modifying labour laws related to collective bargaining and discrimination against union members.

Major buyers European Union (EU) and UN body ILO also rolled out similar plan.