DHAKA, Feb 24, 2025 (BSS) – Experts at a conference today laid emphasis on engaging proactively with the European Union (EU) to secure enhanced GSP+ benefits including duty-free access for garments.

They urged the authorities concerned to establish WTO-compatible export support mechanisms for providing support to the exporters in a compliant way.

They made the call at the inaugural session of the conference titled “Strategic Policy Realignment to Boost Investment and Achieve Export Diversification at the BRAC Centre Inn Auditorium in the city.

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised the two-day conference on “Recommendations by the Task Force on Re-Strategizing the Economy”.

Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin attended the session as the chief guest while Former Commerce Minister and Chairman of the Sarina Group Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and CPD Chairman Professor Rehman Sobhan attended as special guests.

CPD Distinguished Fellow Professor Mustafizur Rahman, President of the Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Zaved Akhtar, Deputy Managing Director of the Picard Bangladesh Limited Amrita Islam and Team Group Managing Director Abdullah Hill Rakib were distinguished discussants.

Chairman of the Taskforce on Re-strategizing the Economy Dr KAS Murshid presided over the session while members of the Taskforce on Re-strategizing the Economy Dr Selim Raihan and Dr Mohammad A Razzaque delivered keynote speech.

In his speech, Sk Bashir Uddin highlighted the widespread corruption and money laundering in the banking sector and infrastructure development during the previous government's tenure, which had put significant pressure on the macro-economy.

He underscored the need for diversification of the country’s export and increasing skilled workforce to strengthen the economy.

“The entire economy of the country was corrupted in the past. Unnecessary projects and money laundering have caused great damage to the economy of this country. Corruption has occurred in the banking sector and various infrastructure construction projects,” he said.

He said the main challenges now are ensuring continuous energy supply at fair prices, improving labour productivity, and enhancing logistics efficiency.

Initiatives should be taken to boost exports by increasing labor productivity, reducing production costs of products and increasing efficiency, he added.

Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury laid emphasis on addressing whole macro-economic issues to bring back the country’s economy in a strong position. 

He stressed that revenue should come from large-scale businesses in a developed private sector, not from VAT and other regulatory duties.

He also warned that without import liberalization, export incentives would not push exports beyond a certain limit.

Dr Mustafizur Rahman highlighted two contrasting examples of import liberalization–Singapore and Haiti.

"While Singapore has strong export and institutional capacity, making liberal imports beneficial to its economy, Haiti presents the opposite scenario," he added.

He said that Bangladesh faces significant institutional capacity gaps in areas such as revenue collection, policy formulation, and implementation. "Without addressing these weaknesses, import liberalization could be risky," he said.

Dr Selim Raihan, also Executive Director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM), said that Bangladesh witness lack of diversification both in industry and exports.

“There could be three path ways to export and industrial diversification in Bangladesh. First one is garments. There have lots of scope to diversify garments exports. Second one is the labour incentive no-readymade garments. The third path way is to move into complex skill incentive export,” he added.

Economist Dr. Razzaque, Chairman of the Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID), said the Ready-Made Garment (RMG) sector in Bangladesh has benefited from duty-free access to global markets, but this will no longer be available after LDC graduation.

He emphasized the urgent need to negotiate with the European Union to maintain this benefit even after December 2027.

He also pointed out Bangladesh's failure to establish bilateral free trade agreements and called for swift action to sign an FTA with Japan.
To reduce the pressure on the macro-economy, Dr Razzaq stressed the need to rethink exports and remittances. 

“Currently, 30-40 percent of the government's incentives are going to companies producing goods for the local market. Moreover, 30 percent of revenue comes from high tariffs on imports”, he said.

The economist said at present, 75 percent of Bangladesh's total exports depend on LDC benefits, which will no longer be available after graduation.

Dr Razzaq highlighted that subsidies for exports will no longer be possible in post-graduation period.

He focused on securing an Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Japan which can enhance Bangladesh’s trade policy credibility.

He urged the government to establish a ‘Chief Trade Negotiators Office’ to manage negotiations, coordinate policies and develop capacity.