Bangladesh wants tariff barriers from developed countries to go

Foreign Adviser Iftekhar A Chowdhury said Bangladesh wants the tariff barriers to go for a level playing field in the global economy.
“Non-tariff barriers are unfair. Our industry should be rewarded for their performance and not punished. We do not want hand-outs from trade partners, we just want a level playing field,” said Iftekhar.
He was inaugurating a workshop on “Regional Export Competitiveness Strategy for Asia” sponsored by the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
He also said Bangladesh could be the next 'Singapore' and is poised to take off as an emerging Asian economic power, he added
Iftekhar said Bangladesh's ready-made garment industry's strong performance in the post-MFA period has been restricted by the high tariff and non-tariff barriers put up by developed countries.
But, he added, Bangladesh's socio-political instability in the pre-1/11 era has not been helpful to economic growth. The caretaker government, he said, has undertaken reforms to remedy those problems and create a stable business climate.
Iftekhar said if productivity is improved in such a 'stable climate', Bangladesh can prosper to the levels of Singapore in a matter of years.
Board of Investment Chairman Kamaluddin Ahmed and Commonwealth Secretariat official Nikhil Treebhoohun addressed the workshop, with BEI Chairman Farook Sobhan in the chair.