'Bangladesh to be first eligible country for GSP scheme'

Visiting US Assistant Secretary Donald Lu today said Bangladesh will be the first country to be eligible for the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) if the US Congress authorise the trade scheme.

"We are still waiting for our Congress to authorise GSP to any country. We are working very closely with the government. So, when it is authorised, the first country on the list will be Bangladesh," he said replying to a query at a meeting with Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen at the ministry.

"The Generalized System of Preferences is a trade advantage offered to many countries in the world by the European Union and the United States," he said.

GSP is a trade scheme under which the US allows import of more than 5,000 goods from 122 least developed and developing countries with lower or zero-duty benefit.

The United States has renewed trade preferences for 122 nations around the world, but Bangladesh has been excluded from the list.

The USA suspended Bangladesh from its GSP in June 2013 after two industrial disasters – Tazreen Fashions fire and Rana Plaza building collapse, citing serious shortcomings in labour rights and workplace safety.

The US introduced the GSP in 1976 under the US Trade Act of 1974. However, the GSP scheme has remained suspended for all beneficiary countries since July 31, 2013.