Entrepreneurs must be active in protesting unfair trade barriers

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Bangladesh's new permanent representative to the United Nations' office in Geneva, speaks at a meeting organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) in the capital yesterday. Hossain Khaled, DCCI president, is also seen.Photo: STAR

The country's small and medium entrepreneurs must be more active in protesting unfair barriers obstructing the export of their products, said Bangladesh's new permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) office in Geneva.
"The entrepreneurs have every right to protest such measures and notify them to the World Trade Organization (WTO) regularly to ensure the free movements of their goods," said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya yesterday.
"No one will show any sympathy to Bangladesh as a least developed country (LDC). But the entrepreneurs themselves must develop their capacity to identify antidumping or countervailing measures," he said.
Anti-dumping measures are used to prevent the importing of products at prices lower than they cost to produce. However, the measure can be misused by a country to stop competition. Countervailing measures are attempts to balance alleged subsidies by an exporter and can also be misused.
Debapriya made his comments at a meeting to discuss the WTO and SMEs in Bangladesh organised by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).
He urged businesspeople to improve their knowledge about dispute settlement at the WTO. Foreign consultants always emphasise liberalisation of imports by developing countries, but they never identify the problems facing Bangladesh's export trade, he said.
Bangladesh's attitude was in marked contrast to neighbouring India that had initiated more anti-dumping and countervailing notifications to the WTO than some European countries, he said.
Replying to criticism that Bangladesh firms had suffered from import liberalization carried out at the behest of the WTO, Debapriya said that on occasions the country had gone further than the WTO had asked.
Import duty reductions were made following the suggestions of global financial institutions. The WTO said Bangladesh need not reduce any import duty under WTO's trade liberalisation regime, he added.
He suggested developing capacity in trade facilitation like port handling capacity, standard and testing facility, transport facility etc.
DCCI President Hossain Khaled emphasised the adjustments costs experienced by a good number of SMEs which had led to their closure. It was important that development partners help bear the cost of these adjustments.
Trade experts, commerce ministry officials also participated the discussion.