The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has recently called upon Bangladesh to initiate labor law reforms by November of this year, in accordance with the recommendations of the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) technical committee.
The USTR’s request for these reforms pertains not only to export processing zones but encompasses the entire labor law framework. Furthermore, the United States has urged Bangladesh to modernize its intellectual property rights laws to combat the export of counterfeit goods.
Both parties convened the seventh meeting of the United States-Bangladesh Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) council in Dhaka. The meeting was jointly chaired by Brendan Lynch, Acting Assistant USTR for South and Central Asia, and Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Secretary in Bangladesh’s Ministry of Commerce, as stated in a press release from the US Embassy in Dhaka.
Ghosh pointed out that the ILO’s International Labor Conference, scheduled for November would offer an excellent platform for Bangladesh to showcase its progress in labor law reforms.
The USTR has proposed lowering the minimum percentage of workers’ consent required to form a trade union in a factory, currently set at 20%. However, unlike the European Union, which has proposed reducing the threshold to 10%, the USTR did not specify a particular percentage.
Additionally, the United States has called for a simplified process for repatriating profits earned by US firms. Ghosh informed that only one company is yet to repatriate its profits, and the Bangladesh Bank is addressing the matter. Ghosh received assurances that a solution will be sought to enable Bangladesh’s garment products made with American cotton to be shipped duty-free or at a reduced duty rate.
Bangladesh can also expect US support at the upcoming ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization as it seeks an extension of the transition period for trade benefits granted to countries graduating from the least-developed country status. Ghosh noted that a decade ago, Bangladesh’s exports to the United States were valued at $5 billion, and now they have exceeded $10 billion.”
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