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Published on January 21, 2014
“That continues to be the case and we are not considering any trade measures at this stage,” he told reporters at his office at the capital. His comment comes when there was news that EU might reconsider the GSP benefit for Bangladesh following the January 5 election boycotted by BNP.
Under the Everything But Arms (EBA) policy, EU provide no tariff advantages to Bangladesh. Bangladesh has signed a compact treaty for ensuring the security of the garments buildings. Whether EU will cancel its GSP policy regarding Bangladesh, if Bangladesh fails to ratify its treaty, Hanna said, EU will evaluate the progress of Bangladesh in upcoming month and then they will take their decisions. According to Hanna, there has been progress in some areas and there are some areas that need to be improved. Bangladesh should specially speed up its recruitment process for new inspectors and set up the databases for factories he said.
Hanna said the GSP was important for Bangladesh as well as Europe, “We want to continue to source from Bangladesh and our companies are interested in continuing to invest.” Asked if the EU was supporting the government given it had yet to send any official greetings to the new administration, he replied, ‘I was at the swearing-in ceremony. I greeted everyone there. We have a long relationship with Bangladesh and we have been involved in assisting its development for a long while.”
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