Apparel made out of US cotton should face no duty
Garment products made out of cotton produced from the united states ought to be provided duty-free usage of the American market, said Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen yesterday.
The US already supplies the facility through agreements with sub-Saharan African and Caribbean countries under an African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and Caribbean Initiative, he said through the monthly luncheon meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) at The Westin Dhaka.
The theme of the meeting, which Momen attended as the guest of honour, was strengthening Bangladesh-US economical relationship.
On an average, the united states charges 15.6 per cent import duty on Bangladeshi products, which tend to be largely garment.
"That is unfortunate for a least-developed country like Bangladesh as products imported from France, a developed nation, face only 0.5 per cent duty," Momen said, adding that the goods should also not be asked to face further testing at the Bangladesh port.
The US is the single biggest export destination for Bangladeshi products. The united states recorded earnings of $6.9 billion from exports to America in fiscal 2018-19.
Bangladesh's apparel shipments to the united states edged up in 2019 -- a heartening development given the inclement condition on the export front.
Between your months of July and December this past year, Bangladesh's apparel shipments fell 6.21 percent to $16.02 billion, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau.
But exports to the united states fetched $5.69 billion, up 9.47 percent from a year earlier, according to data from any office of Textiles and Apparel.
Momen also called for diversification of the export basket: some 84 % of exports earnings result from the apparel sector.
"Overdependence on one sector isn't good. So we should choose product diversification."
As well exports must be increased. "Because of this we are urging foreign investment."
The Chinese are incredibly much interested in making investments.
"However, we are progressing slowly in matters involving them," he said, while inviting investments from the EU, the united kingdom, the united states and other countries.
To make the country more inviting to foreign investors, the federal government is working to hack away bureaucratic complexities.
American foreign direct investment (FDI) in Bangladesh amounts to a lot more than $3.5 billion, making it one of the greatest single-state investors in the united states.
"The relationship between your two countries is not as strong since it could be but I am hoping that later on, our trade relations will be far better," Momen said.
He urged American companies to create more FDIs in Bangladesh to help the united states achieve its development goals and become a developed country by 2041.
The rate of returns on investments in Bangladesh are high and following the Rana Plaza collapse, labour standards and security and safety measures have all been improved.
"America's strength isn't their weapon arsenal but instead their fair justice system and human rights values."
The foreign minister also expressed frustration over the Rohingya issue, saying that the global outcry on the violation of human rights had not been of the magnitude it should have been because of various influencing factors.
The world economy is slowly but surely shifting to a knowledge-based economy and Bangladesh is no exception, said Syed Ershad Ahmed, president of the AmCham.
Therefore, it is very important to focus on getting ultimately more FDIs in technology-based industries and services rather than remaining heavily reliant on labour.
"It's time to give attention to research and development for product diversification amid growing challenges."
Although Bangladesh faced a lot of global challenges in 2019, higher agricultural output and remittance growth allowed it to overcome those challenges, he said.
Strong remittance inflow and foreign financing of development projects have already been able to keep carefully the country's external account healthy and the total amount of payment account in surplus.
Bangladesh's current monetary growth is higher than that of many other Parts of asia that are supported by FDIs, according to Ahmed, also the country manager of Expeditors, a global logistics company headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
However, to cope with global competition and the new challenges, it is vital to attract more investment in diversified sectors.
A better trade partnership between Bangladesh and the US for monetary development would grow to be a win-win situation.
"More cooperation between the US and Bangladesh may attract more investment in infrastructure development including ports, roads and transport. I repeat, attention ought to be given on knowledge based high-tech products," he added.
AmCham Vice-President Syed Mohammd Kamal, US Counsellor for Political and Economic Affairs to Bangladesh Brent T Christensen, businesspeople and current and former diplomats attended the programme.
