TICFA  meeting between US, Bangladesh on Monday

The second meeting after the signing of the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA ) between the US and Bangladesh will be held on Monday.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 22 Nov 2015, 01:24 PM
Updated : 22 Nov 2015, 01:25 PM

The US embassy on Sunday said Assistant US Trade Representative for South Asia Mike Delaney and Bangladesh’s Senior Secretary of Commerce Hedayetullah Al Mamun would represent their respective sides in the Washington meet.

TICFA was signed on Nov 25 in 2013 with the aim of establishing an annual forum to identify and address obstacles impeding the increase of bilateral trade and investment.

This year’s meet seeks “to further bolster trade” -- which currently exceeds $6 billion per annum -- between the two countries.

“TICFA  is about expanding the potential of our two countries’ bilateral trade and investment relationship, which includes promising new areas, from pharmaceuticals to increased investment in infrastructure to information technology,”  US Deputy Chief of Mission David Meale, who will represent the Embassy at TICFA , was quoted as saying in a statement.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed had earlier said that the Bangladesh government was expecting restoration of the GSP privilege, suspended in 2013 on factory safety and workers’ rights concerns, after the TICFA meeting.

But US officials do not see such scopes.

Delaney, earlier in September, said much needed to be done to complete the 16-point Action Plan Washington had rolled out after revoking the GSP privilege.

But he maintained that there remained scopes of increasing trade and investments outside of the context of the GSP.

Deputy Chief of Mission Meale also said that TICFA  was “more than GSP”.

“It covers everything. We did not create TICFA  for one issue,” he recently said.