FM to meet Kerry over GSP

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni is going to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry on May 17 in Washington in an apparent effort to retain Bangladesh’s GSP facility.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, she said she was scheduled to leave for New York on Sunday night to attend a high-level meeting on human trafficking on the next day in the United Nations.

“The UN General Assembly President has invited me to attend it,” she said.

The minister said she would meet with US Secretary of State where a whole range of bilateral issues including GSP would be discussed.

It would be her first meeting with Kerry after he assumed office.

The influential American Federation of Labour-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) submitted a petition to the US government on Jun 22, 2007 to revoke Bangladesh’s GSP facility, which allowed duty-free market access of some products, over concerns about labour conditions.

The final hearing was concluded in March, but US ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena suggested continued efforts before the decision within the first week of June.

But the Savar building collapse that has so far killed more than 800 people, mostly garment workers, brough the issue of workplace safety to the fore again.

Though Bangladesh enjoyed the GSP facility for exporting products worth about $26.3 million in US in 2011, the US Ambassador earlier said losing the facility would send ‘negative message’ across the globe.

Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque will also lead a delegation to the US on May 14 to discuss on GSP issues with Washington.