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Dhaka should get extra garments quota: Solarz

By Toufique Imrose Khalidi and Govinda Shil
While Bangladesh is pleading for a 30 per cent raise in its quota for garment products going to the United States, an influential US politician, hired by exporters to propagate the idea, says the issue is not linked to American oil companies getting exploration contracts here.
Stephen Solarz, a former Democrat Congressman who once headed the House foreign relations sub-committee for Asia and the Pacific, said Bangladesh had other reasons to be rewarded. "It is a creative idea, but I guess Bangladesh has a genuine case in getting extra quota." he said.
Solarz said he had no knowledge of such a plan, while some leading garment exporters busy with their powerful, celebrated lobbyist tended to say the US could be considering the idea as an option.
Bangladesh has very reasonable grounds." Solarz said referring to its success in eliminating child labour in the industry. which sells mo®- of its output to the US.
In an exclusive interview with The Daily Star yesterday at his hotel suite. Solarz, who lobbies for Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) with the US administration, said he was developing a "strategy" to realise an extra 30 per cent ouota allocation
Solarz said diplomatic steps would be taken to persuade the US government to agree on a significant Increase in Bangladesh's apparel quota. He arrived in the city Monday as a guest of BGMEA and discussed his plans with the Prime Minister and the Commerce Minister yesterday.
He said both "supported the idea of developing a strategy." Solarz did not elaborate, but said a campaign involving the US importers and the Bangladesh community there might work.
Solarz. 57. the head of APCO, a Washington DC-based lobbyist firm employed by the BGMEA. said a visit by President Clinton to Bangladesh in 1998 2it help the administration e a positive decision. Clinton planned to come to India and Pakistan in February, but postponed due to what Solarz said Indian elections.
BGMEA president Mostafa Golam Quddus said a 30 per cent quota enhancement would employ an additional 2.5 lakh workers and boost exports by USS 350 million with a value addition of more than 30 per cent.
Solarz said he hoped the US government would allow Bangladesh the additional quota from sometime next year. Solarz is known to have a strong clout with the Clinton administration.
M™>e.Sal? such Potofs as the MOU to eliminate child labour from the industry and good economic and political rela tions between the two countries would provide good grounds for the demand to be realised.
He, however, warned "there is no such guarantee" because other countries might put pressure for such concessions. Solarz spoke of the World Trade Organisation and the Agreement on Textile and Clothing (ATC) which were taking the world to a quota-free global economy.
He said chances of getting an additional 15 per cent quota this year, as demanded by the exporters here, were bleak. "If Bangladesh's case is approved, there are other countries which will create pressure." he said. "The domestic trade unions will also oppose."
Calling the MOU a model for the rest of the world in eliminating child labour from different industries, he said. This is our whole argument based on which we want tojustify our perception that Bangladesh should be given additional quantity."