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The Bangladesh-United States Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) meeting will take place today (Wednesday), according to senior secretary of the Ministry of Commerce Tapan Kanti Ghosh. Preferential Trade Facility (GSP) and tariff exemption for export products, including ready-made clothing, may be discussed during the conference.
Additionally, according to ministry sources, Bangladesh buys cotton from the United States. Dhaka wants duty-free exporting options for clothing created with the imported cotton to the American market. Although the problem has already been brought up with the US and formal proposals have also been made, no encouraging answer has yet been obtained.
Dhaka would vehemently bring up this issue once more at the ensuing summit. because exporting clothing created in the US market carries a 15.62 percent tariff. In addition, Bangladesh will look to the US for assistance in managing any dangers that may arise after leaving the less developed nation.
Dhaka will also look to the US for backing in the LDC group's request to the WTO for the extension of TRIPS benefits and duty-free export facilities for an additional six years even after LDC graduation.
The United States, on the other hand, seeks a speedy resolution to issues with the labor environment, labor rights, ban on child labor, right of unionization of garment workers, and intellectual property.
Bangladesh will be represented at the forthcoming meeting by Tapan Kanti Ghosh. Brendan Lynch, the Office of the US Trade Representative's (USTR) acting assistant for South and Central Asia, will preside over the meeting on behalf of the US.
Interestingly, TICFA was ratified on November 25, 2013. Prior to this, the US had been pressuring Bangladesh to ratify the TIFA (Trade and Investment Framework Agreement), later known as the TICFA.
The forum will get together at least once every year, as per the agreement. The first meeting consequently took place in Dhaka in April 2014, and the second one took place in Washington in November 2015. In this fashion, TICFA Forum meetings are held nearly annually in Dhaka, Washington, and Washington.
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