‘Duty-free access sought again for RMG made from US cotton’

Business Desk :
Bangladesh again demanded duty-free access to the American markets for the locally produced garments made from the US cotton, Senior Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh said.

Bangladesh placed the demand in a meeting with the senior officials of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) at the secretary’s office in the capital’s commerce ministry.
Earlier, Bangladesh made the same in the last meeting of the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) held in Washington in December last year, he said.

The secretary shared the information at a press conference after the meeting with the senior officials of the USTR.
The US government usually does not allow duty-free access to garment items imported from any country, Ghosh said.
Bangladesh lifted the rule of mandatory fumigation of US cotton this month and, in reciprocity, the south Asian nation asked for the special access for the locally produced apparels, he said.

However, the fumigation is still mandatory for raw cotton brought in from other North American countries, as those are not scientifically tested like the ones imported from the USA.

In the meeting, the USTR officials complained about the export of counterfeit goods from Bangladesh to the USA.
Ghosh said there is no chance of sending any counterfeit goods from Bangladesh to the USA and the EU as the consignments are audited by different organisations at different levels before final shipments.

The USTR also stressed the need for improving the business climate to attract more American investment to Bangladesh, he said.