Bangladesh’s exports are likely to suffer in the European Union (EU) markers in the post-LDC period provided the country loses preferential treatment in the EU countries, said M Maksud, President of the Bangladesh–German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BGCCI).
He was speaking at the business networking event, organized by the BGCCI, at a city hotel on Thursday.
M Maksud, also Managing Director of Corona International, Corona Engineering Limited and Corona Power Generation Limited, said that Bangladesh's exports could face average duties of 8.7% as a result of GSP loss. “The 'zero duty' access to the EU is expected to continue for three years after the official announcement of 'Developing Country'. If the preferences under EBA (Everything But Arms) are not available after that, the exports of Bangladesh would face 8.7 per cent duty on average,” said M Maksud.
And it is estimated that shipments would drop at the rate of 5.7 per cent per year. To mitigate these effects, Bangladesh needs to qualify for the GSP+ scheme in order to preserve its competitiveness in the export market, the BGCCI president said. GSP+ scheme is a 'special incentive arrangement for Sustainable Development and Good Governance' for 'vulnerable developing countries'. This system grants full removal of tariffs on over 66 per cent of EU tariff lines. To qualify for the scheme, Bangladesh has to ratify 27 international conventions and has to fulfil the 'vulnerability' criteria as set by the European Union. In order to address these concerns, amendments of the existing labour laws, elimination of child labour, registration of trade unions, elimination of backlog in cases of labour laws etc have been given the most emphasis.
“The co-operation between Germany and Bangladesh is at an all-time high as bilateral relations continue to strengthen, " the BGCCI president said.
Jan Janowski, Charge D Áffaires, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bangladesh, in his speech said that Bangladesh should work on improving the business environment to attract German investment.
He said that the improvement in the record of ease of doing business is important in the context of luring FDI in Bangladesh.
Sharing his experience with policy makers, business leaders and stakeholders, Jan Janowski said that Bangladesh has a young, vibrant and innovative population that can contribute to the development of the country.
As Bangladesh has decided to join the BRICS, the German envoy said total export growth of Bangladesh to Germany over the years is much higher than BRICS countries.
He said the number of German companies in Bangladesh has increased in recent years showing increased business interest with the South Asian country.
Bangladesh exported goods worth 7590970863 US dollars to Germany during July-June period of 2021-22 fiscal. During the January-May period of the July-May 2022-23 period, bangladesh's export to Germany stood at 6403760170 US dollars, according to the Export Promotion Bureau.
