Editorial
GSP withdrawal issue
Let it be settled squarely
FINANCE Minister AMA Muhith terms the West's threat to withdraw Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facility from Bangladesh as 'unjust.' The reality on the ground is admittedly stacked against Bangladesh. At the same time, sympathies and goodwill for us abound. We must focus on the crisis to transform it into an opportunity.
The finance minister and foreign minister Dipu Moni have been indicating that Bangladesh's GSP access to US is meagre. This is how they underplayed the risks. But when the spectre of a possible bowling effect pressed panic buttons, our government and the RMG sector are waking up.
The government consistently lacked a proactive approach to Bangladeshi workers being exploited, often dying in droves due to non-compliance with minimum safety standards. At one time it was easier to address the issues like labour rights, trade union rights, workers' safety, if only we had acted out of our own volition. Now the task appears complicated as the West presses its levers. Their taxpaying buyers refusing to wear RMG products from a country where workers are mindlessly exploited, the whole issue has acquired an international character but with a human face.
Our feeling is that when the government acted in the past it did so perfunctorily not taking the eventuality we now face into consideration.
Thus whilst we are in sync with the finance minister's sentiments that the threat is unjust, if we are blamed for having brought it upon ourselves would that be wide off the mark?
All said and done, we appeal to our trading partners not to withdraw GSP facility from Bangladesh.
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