BSS, Dhaka
Britain has recently proposed a new project - UK Developing Countries Trading Scheme - aiming to grow trade with developing countries, including Bangladesh, as well as supporting jobs and growth across the globe.
The UK government launched a consultation on new trading rules that will help countries come out of poverty – and help British businesses and consumers at the same time, a press release of British High Commission said recently.
The proposed scheme would allow 70 qualifying countries, including Bangladesh, to diversify their exports to the UK and grow their economies, it added.
“Countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam have proven it’s possible to trade your way to better living standards, and our new Developing Countries Trading Scheme will help others do the same,” UK’s International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said on the occasion.
Pointing that currently the UK is an independent trading nation, Truss said, “We have a huge opportunity to do things differently, taking a more liberal, pro-trade approach that leads to growth and opportunity.”
“The proposed DCTS scheme signals the UK’s appetite to promote global free, competitive, and fair trade, as well as demonstrating our commitment to Bangladesh, by enabling Bangladeshi businesses to access the UK market more easily,” Acting British High Commissioner here Javed Patel said on the occasion.
Noting that bilateral trade between the UK and Bangladesh stands at almost £4billion and there is room for growth, Patel encouraged Bangladesh business enterprises to contribute to this important consultation through their trade bodies.
He said Bangladesh and Vietnam have demonstrated that increasing trade through schemes like the UK’s DCTS helped them grow their economy, improve living standards, and drive down poverty.
The UK total imports from Bangladesh more than doubled between 2009 and 2019, during which time the country achieved an average growth rate of 6.6% while extreme poverty rates more than halved from 1991 to 2016-17.
The UK currently operates a similar scheme rolled over from the EU, but as an independent trading nation can now take a simpler, more generous, pro-growth approach to trading with developing countries, said the release.
The proposed new UK scheme will mean more opportunity and less bureaucracy for developing countries, it added.
