Bangladesh should strive for availing GSP+ facility from the European Union after the withdrawal of duty-free and quota-free market access facility in the EU under the ‘Everything But Arms (EBA)’ scheme in 2029-- policy makers and experts said at a seminar in the capital on Thursday.
At the same time, the country should also pursue with the WTO for the continuation of International Support Measures (ISMs) for six years after a country’s graduation from LDC status, they said.
Such observations came during the ‘National Seminar on LDC Graduation’ organized by the Support to Sustainable Graduation Project (SSGP) of Economic Relations Division (ERD) in the capital today.
Planning Minister Muhammad Abdul Mannan, MP was the chief guest of the inaugural session of the seminar. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam, MP attended the closing session as the chief guest.
Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and the Chair of the National Committee on LDC Graduation Dr. Ahmad Kaikaus chaired both the opening and closing session of the event. Governor of Bangladesh Bank Abdur Rouf Talukder attended the inaugural session of the seminar as special guest. President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) Md. Jashim Uddin was the Guest of Honour of the session.
Planning Minister, in his speech, termed LDC graduation as an important milestone in Bangladesh’s development journey. He also observed that LDC graduation process would not only generate better strategies and action plans, but would also create a sense of ownership among all.
Governor of Bangladesh Bank Abdur Rouf Talukder said that the enhanced capacity acquired through this graduation process would also enable us to attain our other national development goals, such as SDGs and Vision-2041.
While speaking as the Guest of Honour of the closing session, UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Gwyn Lewis said that a well thought-out, consultative, time-bound, action-oriented, and implementable smooth transition strategy would be the key for ensuring a sustainable LDC graduation.
Bangladesh, as an LDC, is currently availing duty-free and quota-free market access in the European market under the Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme of the EU. However, the country might not be able to avail this facility following a three years’ transition period after graduation.
The daylong seminar featured four working sessions. The first working session was themed on ‘Preferential Market Access and WTO Issues’. Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, MP was the chair and moderator of the session. Deputy Head of Mission of the Delegation of the European Union in Bangladesh Dr. Bernd Spanier and the Chairman of Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID) Dr. Mohammad Abdur Razzaque joined the session as panellists. Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce Tapan Kanti Ghosh was the keynote presenter of the session.