RMG exporters urge India to erase non-tariff barriers
Garment exporters yesterday urged India to remove non-tariff and para-tariff barriers and implement a decision on duty-waiver on exports of 46 garment items from Bangladesh.
Exports of apparel items from Bangladesh to India will increase manifold, thanks to duty-free access to India, an emerging market, the exporters said.
The plea for removing trade barriers came at a press conference at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) office.
“Garment exports to India will increase because of the latest move by the Indian government,” said Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, BGMEA president. “We hope the trade imbalance will decrease to a great extent.”
Still, the exporters will have to pay 12 percent duty for non-tariff and para-tariff problems such as countervailing duty, educational duty, special additional duty and some provincial duty.
On the other hand, the garment exporters will enjoy 23.5 percent direct duty-waiver due to the Indian move, said Faruque Hassan, vice-president of BGMEA.
He said both the volume and value of garment exports to India are still low, as most of the shipments go to the western world.
Of the total garment exports from Bangladesh, 56 percent go to the European markets, 25 percent to the USA and 5 percent to Canada and the remainder to the rest of the world.
Like Japan, Malaysia, China and Korea in Asia, India emerged as a new export destination for Bangladeshi garment items, he said. “The other new export destinations are Latin America, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.”
Now the 10-million quota is irrelevant as the 46 garment items cover 80 percent of products under the quota, Hassan said.
AKM Salim Osman, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said garment exports to India from Bangladesh will increase for higher quality of products.
AK Azad, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, urged the Indian government to give duty-free facility to other goods of Bangladesh as well, which will help reduce the trade gap.
The students from the BGMEA Institute of Fashion and Technology (BIFT) will be able to get scholarship and credit transfer to National Institute of Fashion and Technology, in India, for an agreement signed between the two institutes during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said Muzaffar Uddin Siddique, BIFT president.
Jahangir Alamin, president of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, also spoke.
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