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Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury said Monday Bangladesh has asked the WTO to help prepare a list of products which will fall under the 3.0 per cent exclusion list and will not enjoy duty-free and quota-free market access under the Hong Kong offer.
He said it is important to target our export promotion focusing on products which will fall within the positive list. The commerce minister said the country will definitely benefit some ways from the 97 per cent duty free market access offer.
The minister is of the view that the duty-free and quota-free offer at Hong Kong is not just to shut down the doors, but to bring some benefits to world's poorer nations.
He told BSS Monday that the Hong Kong ministerial conference will open the way to zero tariff market access, may be slowly if not at one stroke, to some of the country's existing apparel exports or new products at high value.
Altaf said Bangladesh fought for the hundred per cent zero tariff coverage for all exports originating from all the LDCs but parties like the USA, the EU and some others did not agree to move beyond 97 per cent products, agreeing its enforcement by 2008.
They said the remaining 3 per cent coverage will be achieved progressively, however, without committing to a timeline. The commerce minister said he is optimistic.
High level US trade officials assured Bangladesh press of the benefit of zero tariff to some Bangladesh exportables. The officials said the USA is ready to increase the number of tariff lines to come under zero tariff. Some existing apparel items and some new high value apparels may come to enjoy this offer, they said adding that they will sit with Bangladesh officials after the conference.
Altaf said Dhaka fought to achieve wider coverage but other LDCs deviated from a common fighting stand at the last moment. Bangladesh also did not want to be singularly exposed beyond certain limit in opposing the offer, he said. The struggle for hundred per cent duty free market access to the USA and other countries will, however, continue both in the multilateral and bilateral fronts, he said.
To protect the gains at Hong Kong, though it looks very tricky and limited, the minister said Bangladesh had immediately tabled a proposal for working out a list of products which will find place in the 3 per cent exclusion basket.
The reason behind it, he said, is that LDCs and for that matter Bangladesh should be aware of the exclusion list to concentrate on developing new export products that can enjoy duty-free access.
The commerce minister said the WTO has accepted the Bangladesh proposal and the list would be worked out in Geneva before the end of 2006. It is part of the Geneva talks modality now for next spring, he said.
The ministry has also started working to identify possible new exports including apparel items that may enjoy duty-free access to the USA and other destinations. It is important to diversify the country's export basket in line with Hong Kong offers, commerce secretary Faruq Ahmad Siddiqui said.
Altaf said he is very much disappointed on reports in a section of the press depicting Bangladesh as a single country which has lost in global trade talks. He said these people lacked proper understanding of the whole context.
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