The newly appointed US ambas sador for Bangladesh met with warm surprise with members of the Bangladesh apparel exporters evincing keen interest in setting up spinning mills in the United States and using US cotton for manufacture of yarns. The exporters sought a duty free access to the market in exchange. The exporters were a part of the Bangladesh Garment Exporters Association (BGMEA). Following the meeting with the US ambassador Earl Robert Miller, BGMEA President Md Siddiqur Rehman told, “Some of our entrepreneurs are interested to set up spinning mills in the US and they want to know whether they would get any duty benefit from the US in exporting RMG made by yarns produced in the mills.”
He further disclosed to media persons that the BGMEA requested the US envoy to lobby with his government so that Bangladesh businesses got duty benefits for exporting to the US market RMG products made of American cotton and yarns. “We have also discussed about the issue of Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) and labour situation in the readymade garment sector. BGMEA also expressed interest to start fresh negotiations with the US for restoring GSP facilities for Bangladeshi products as the country fulfilled 15 requirements, out of 16 provided by the US for the restoration of GSP facility,” he added.
“We requested US ambassador to discuss the issue with the newly appointed Commerce Minister of Bangladesh] as the envoy said Bangladesh made significant progress in meeting GSP conditions but no evaluation has been taking place for the last two years in this regard,” revealed the BGMEA President.
