WASHINGTON, June 28: US is willing to work with Bangladesh to restore the suspended Generalised System of Preference (GSP) benefits if it improves workers’ rights and conditions, a top American trade official has said.
“Our goal, of course, is not only to see Bangladesh restore its edibility for GSP benefits, but to see Bangladeshi workers in safe, appropriate work situations,” the US Trade Representative (USTR), Mike Froman, told reporters during a conference call after President Barack Obama suspended GSP benefits for Bangladesh through a proclamation.
GSP is a 37-year-old trade preference program under which the United States provides duty-free treatment to many imports from developing countries.
The suspension will become effective 60 days after the publication of the presidential proclamation in the Federal Register.
Froman said passage of the labour law would be an important step for Bangladesh to restore its GSP benefits.
“We’re also discussing a number of other actions with them that they can take that would enhance workers’ rights and worker safety. And we’ll be working with them to encourage them to take those actions, as well as providing support and assistance for them as they need, for technical assistance, to do so as well,” he said.
“We are in continued dialogue with the government of Bangladesh and would like to see them take the necessary actions both to protect their workers and also ultimately to be reinstated in the GSP programs,” Froman said, adding that there is no timetable to restore benefits.
“While GSP covers only a small portion of the US imports from Bangladesh, we think that the issue of GSP ultimately has greater impact than the numbers themselves suggest, given the public attention that the GSP has received in Bangladesh and the importance Bangladesh attributes to it,” he said.
“The focus is on the actions that need to be taken. And once the significant actions have been taken that we think are feasible for them to take, we are certainly willing to review the issue of reinstatement,” the US trade official said. (PTI)
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