EU calls for removing trade barriers

A trade delegation from the European Union yesterday urged the government to remove trade barriers to help Bangladesh move up in the global ease of doing business index and reduce the trade gap between the bloc and the country.

Rensje Teerink, the EU ambassador to Bangladesh, suggested Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed facilitate EU businesses by removing barriers in customs and taxes so that the big imbalance in trade is reduced.

She remarked at a joint press conference after the fourth round of the EU-Bangladesh Business Climate Dialogue with Ahmed at the latter's secretariat office in Dhaka.

Ambassadors of different EU countries discussed trade issues in the meeting. Teerink led the EU side.

The balance of bilateral trade is heavily tilting towards Bangladesh because of export of a high volume of garment items to the 28-nation bloc.

In the last fiscal year, Bangladesh's export to the EU was $21.33 billion and import from the bloc was $3.5 billion.

Among the least developed countries, which are eligible for the duty-free benefit to the EU, Bangladesh is the highest beneficiary of the “Everything But Arms” scheme, according to Teerink.

In the press conference, the commerce minister urged the EU to grant the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP)-Plus status to Bangladesh after it graduates to a developing country from the LDC after 2027.

After the graduation, Bangladesh is expected to lose the trade benefit and face a 12.5 percent duty to the EU.

In such cases, the EU allows the GSP Plus facility, which allows zero-duty benefit on exports, subject to fulfillment of some conditions.

A country must have ratified the 27 GSP Plus relevant international conventions on human and labour rights, environmental protection and good governance to be eligible for the trade benefit.

The EU has granted the GSP Plus status to Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Since the first dialogue in May 2016, five working groups related to customs, pharmaceuticals, taxes, financial flows and investment issues were formed to boost the trade and investment between Bangladesh and the EU.

Both sides have resolved different problems through discussions in the last four dialogues.

The next dialogue will be held in March next year.

Currently, Bangladesh is ranked 177th among 190 countries in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index.