& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Bangladesh again says no to TICFA

The country disagrees with US over labour issues

Refayet Ullah Mirdha
Bangladesh again declined to sign a TICFA as the country cannot immediately set much higher labour standards pressed by the US as a precondition for the trade and investment cooperation deal.
The US wants immediate elimination of child and forced labour from all sectors and permission for trade union at factories, but Bangladesh wants to implement these conditions in phases.
The latest proposal for signing the Trade and Investment Coopera-tion Framework Agreement (TICFA) was presented at the launch of US-Bangladesh partnership dialogue in Washington during September 19-20.
“The US again proposed signing the TICFA deal at the partnership dialogue, but we responded by saying that Bangladesh's stance lover the matter] remained the same,” said a senior official of the commerce ministry, asking not to be named.
The US government wants Bangladesh to set much higher labour standards following the rules of the US Department of Labour, said another official of the commerce ministry, who did not want to be named.
“The US wants more compliance at the factory level, meaning elimination of child and forced labour from all sectors and permission for trade unions at factories,” the official said.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, wants gradual elimination of child labour and gradual improvement of trade unionism at the factory level, the official said.
The garment sector, however, has been declared child labour-free by
the US Department of Labour.
Bangladesh is now following the labour standards of both International Labour Organisation and Bangladesh labour laws, and is currently in the process of implementing ILO's 'better work programme' at the factory level.
The TICFA is a proposed platform for Bangladesh and the US to discuss bilateral trade issues, including the trade barriers and opportunities in the two countries.
Four core factors — security, protection of investment, intellectual property rights and standard of labour — have been the widely discussed issues in the negotiations.
Bangladesh, however, has agreed on some major issues of the deal, said the ministry official.
Ahead of US Secretary General Hillary Clinton's visit to Bangladesh in May, the Bangladesh government finalised a draft of theTICFA.
Although many issues were discussed, the draft was not signed during the visit.
The TICFA is now on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's table for her final approval.
“We also raised the issue of duty-free access of Bangladeshi garment items to the US market during the dialogue,” the official said.
READ MORE ON B3 FROM PAGE Bl
Duty-free access of garment items to the US market is a long-time demand of Bangladesh.
Currently, Bangladeshi garment exporters have to pay 15.30 percent duty to enter the US market.
Bangladesh, as a least developed country, was supposed to enjoy zero duty benefit from the US.
Although the US government allows duty-free access to 97 percent of the items from Bangladesh, garment items are not included in the duty benefit scheme.
At present, the US is the single largest export destination for Bangladesh; more than 35 percent of Bangladesh's apparel exports go to the US.
Food security, labour standard, maternal and child health, family planning, climate change, strengthening democracy, youth and women's empowerment were some of the issues discussed at the dialogue.
Mohamed Mijarul Quayes, foreign secretary, led the Bangladeshi delegation of 15 officials from different ministries, while Wendy Sherman, the under secretary of state for political affairs, led the US team.