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Bangladesh, Nepal to devise plan to push for US TRADE bill

BDNEWS, Dhaka
Bangladesh and Nepal will sit together this week to find out joint strategies to lobby for duty-free market access of readymade garments to the US.
"Formal discussions in this regard will be held during the visit of Bangladesh Commerce Minister zMtaf Hossain Choudhury to Nepal this week," a senior commerce ministry official saidhere.
"The commerce minister is scheduled to meet the Nepal garment entrepreneurs to assess the impact of quota phase-out in Nepal and discuss ways to joindy push for the USTRADE Act 2005," said Kiran Saakha, president of Garment Association in Nepal.
Before working out the stratc gies, the ministry official said, a common understanding at the manufacturers' level of both the
countries must be resolved.
Altaf will fly for Nepal Wednesday to inaugurate Bangladesh single country trade fair there. He will also discuss bilateral economic tics with his Nepal counterpart, according to official sources.
The TRADE (Tariff Relief Assistance for Developing Economies) Act was tabled in the US Congress on January 26. The bill seeks duty-free access of textile and other products from 14 least devel-oped countries Including Bangladesh to the US.
The bill is presently under discussions at the Hade Committee of the House of Representatives and Finance Committee of theSenate.
When asked, Annisul Huq, president of the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said he is unaware of the imminent talks between Bangladesh and Nepal to
sortoutsuchstrategies.
"Wb have already appointed a lobbyist for us,” Huq said. “Not all the garment entrepreneurs of 14 LDCs have agreed to jointly push for the bill through appointinga lobbyist."
Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Cambodia, Afghanistan. Samoa, Solomon Islands, East Timor, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Yemen, Kiribati and Laos will be the beneficiary countries of the bill.
The bill is similar to the African Growth and Opportunity Act and will be effective until 2014. It prescribes specified rules of origin conditions for the beneficiary countries to enjoy duty-free entry to the US market.
Local garment entrepreneurs said that the rules of origin conditions are flexible for the first seven years and there are many good things for Bangladesh.