U.S. Bangladesh Advisory Council
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PRESS RELEASE: 11/18/09
US Bangladesh Advisory Council Urges Duty Free Market Access for Bangladesh at Capitol Hill
Briefing
Contact: press@usbac.org
Washington, DC, November 18, 2009: The U.S. Bangladesh Advisory Council today spoke at a
Capitol Hill briefing co-hosted by the Trade, Aid and Security Coalition and Oxfam America. Speakers
at the event included Congressman Jim McDermott, Ms. Shamarukh Mohiuddin, Executive Director of
the U.S. Bangladesh Advisory Council, His Excellency, Cham Prasidh, Senior Minister and Minister of
Commerce of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and Ms. Stephanie Burgos, Senior Policy Advisor at Oxfam
America. The chairman of the Trade, Aid and Security Coalition, Mr. Claude Fontheim moderated the
event.
The briefing was attended by numerous House and Senate staff, a number of major development
NGOs such as Women Thrive Worldwide and Vital Voices, the Food and Agricultural Organization,
business representatives including American Eagle Outfitters, Wal Mart, Cargill, Chevron, the US
Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation, American Apparel and Footwear Association
and others.
Mr. Claude Fontheim who presided over the event said: "Congressman Jim McDermott has done
more than anybody to use trade policy to alleviate poverty." In his remarks, Congressman McDermott
said: "Market access has an undeniable effect on poverty in any country. Whether you look in
Bangladesh, Madagascar or Namibia, the garment factories are filled with women. Our hope is that
in the next bill, we will direct our energies to figure out how to help the poorest countries get up on
their feet."
Ms. Shamarukh Mohiuddin, Executive Director of the US Bangladesh Advisory Council, an NGO
working on US policies towards Bangladesh thanked Congressman McDermott for his leadership in
promoting development in the poorest countries. She spoke about the immediate need for U.S. trade
policy to provide better access for Bangladesh's textile and apparel exports, citing several looming
economic challenges in Bangladesh. She pointed out that Bangladesh currently faces $570 million
in tariffs on just $3.7 billion in exports while developed countries such as France face only $378
million on a much larger amount of exports.
Ms. Mohiuddin drew attention to the recent drop in orders for textiles and apparel from Bangladesh
and pointed to other dire economic challenges the country is currently facing: including higher food
prices, 2 million children affected by acute malnutrition, a rise in the sea level threatening to displace
20 million Bangladeshis (per the IPCC) and a sharp drop in remittances from migrant workers. She
stressed that as an LDC and the third largest majority Muslim country with a liberal democracy,
Bangladesh deserves much better trade and economic benefits than it currently receives from the
United States.
With regard to the objections from Africa groups about duty free market access for Bangladesh, she
said: "Only 5 African countries benefit from apparel exports to the US. Of these 5 countries, 3 are not
Least Developed Countries, while Bangladesh and Cambodia are LDCs. The only African apparel
exporter with a lower per capita income than the Asian LDCs is Madagascar. Even Lesotho has a
higher per capita income. If the US's goal is to address poverty through trade preference programs, it
hardly makes sense to exclude poor countries such as Cambodia and Bangladesh."
With regard to the larger total amount of exports from Cambodia and Bangladesh than from AGOA
countries, which has been a point of contention, she said: "Of course our figures are higher;
Bangladesh and Cambodia together have an apparel and textile workforce which is 16 times larger
than that of sub Saharan Africa. We have to look at the return to each worker from apparel exports for
any fair comparison with Africa."
His Excellency Minister Cham Prasidh of Cambodia underscored the importance of duty free quota
free access in sustaining his country's economic development. He spoke about Cambodia's
success in using the ILO program to improve labor standards and competitiveness. However, he
said "We are experiencing stiffer competition from Chinese and Vietnamese products and are seeing
a drop both in exports and GDP growth." He pointed out that a number of Cambodian factories had
closed their doors recently and that about 52,000 people had lost their jobs. He said: "We face more
tariffs than all of Sub Saharan Africa; about $407 million dollars while Africa faces $14 million dollars,
while we are just as poor as other African countries."
Ms. Stephanie Burgos from Oxfam America stressed the need for providing 100 percent duty free
quota free access for the LDCs, and for a clear, simple and predictable trade preferences program
which would stimulate investment and economic development in these countries. She said that for
every dollar that the US provides in aid to Cambodia and Bangladesh, it collects $7 in tariffs. She said
that the US "must make its trade and aid policies much more coherent." She also said that special
attention must be paid to trade capacity building in all LDCs and in making sure that countries are
able to utlilize the benefits awarded to them by US trade preference programs. She also pointed out
that Bangladesh has made investments in improving its labor standards and talked about the need
for providing countries with incentives to improve labor standards through market access, as the US
has done in Cambodia.
The event comes at the heels of a major hearing at the House Ways and Means Committee
examining US trade preference programs. Congressman McDermott plans to introduce new
legislation in the coming days granting more liberal market access for the UN designated LDCs and
African countries.
=END=
US Bangladesh Advisory Council Urges Duty Free Market Access for Bangladesh at Capitol Hill
Briefing
Contact: press@usbac.org
Washington, DC, November 18, 2009: The U.S. Bangladesh Advisory Council today spoke at a
Capitol Hill briefing co-hosted by the Trade, Aid and Security Coalition and Oxfam America. Speakers
at the event included Congressman Jim McDermott, Ms. Shamarukh Mohiuddin, Executive Director of
the U.S. Bangladesh Advisory Council, His Excellency, Cham Prasidh, Senior Minister and Minister of
Commerce of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and Ms. Stephanie Burgos, Senior Policy Advisor at Oxfam
America. The chairman of the Trade, Aid and Security Coalition, Mr. Claude Fontheim moderated the
event.
The briefing was attended by numerous House and Senate staff, a number of major development
NGOs such as Women Thrive Worldwide and Vital Voices, the Food and Agricultural Organization,
business representatives including American Eagle Outfitters, Wal Mart, Cargill, Chevron, the US
Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation, American Apparel and Footwear Association
and others.
Mr. Claude Fontheim who presided over the event said: "Congressman Jim McDermott has done
more than anybody to use trade policy to alleviate poverty." In his remarks, Congressman McDermott
said: "Market access has an undeniable effect on poverty in any country. Whether you look in
Bangladesh, Madagascar or Namibia, the garment factories are filled with women. Our hope is that
in the next bill, we will direct our energies to figure out how to help the poorest countries get up on
their feet."
Ms. Shamarukh Mohiuddin, Executive Director of the US Bangladesh Advisory Council, an NGO
working on US policies towards Bangladesh thanked Congressman McDermott for his leadership in
promoting development in the poorest countries. She spoke about the immediate need for U.S. trade
policy to provide better access for Bangladesh's textile and apparel exports, citing several looming
economic challenges in Bangladesh. She pointed out that Bangladesh currently faces $570 million
in tariffs on just $3.7 billion in exports while developed countries such as France face only $378
million on a much larger amount of exports.
Ms. Mohiuddin drew attention to the recent drop in orders for textiles and apparel from Bangladesh
and pointed to other dire economic challenges the country is currently facing: including higher food
prices, 2 million children affected by acute malnutrition, a rise in the sea level threatening to displace
20 million Bangladeshis (per the IPCC) and a sharp drop in remittances from migrant workers. She
stressed that as an LDC and the third largest majority Muslim country with a liberal democracy,
Bangladesh deserves much better trade and economic benefits than it currently receives from the
United States.
With regard to the objections from Africa groups about duty free market access for Bangladesh, she
said: "Only 5 African countries benefit from apparel exports to the US. Of these 5 countries, 3 are not
Least Developed Countries, while Bangladesh and Cambodia are LDCs. The only African apparel
exporter with a lower per capita income than the Asian LDCs is Madagascar. Even Lesotho has a
higher per capita income. If the US's goal is to address poverty through trade preference programs, it
hardly makes sense to exclude poor countries such as Cambodia and Bangladesh."
With regard to the larger total amount of exports from Cambodia and Bangladesh than from AGOA
countries, which has been a point of contention, she said: "Of course our figures are higher;
Bangladesh and Cambodia together have an apparel and textile workforce which is 16 times larger
than that of sub Saharan Africa. We have to look at the return to each worker from apparel exports for
any fair comparison with Africa."
His Excellency Minister Cham Prasidh of Cambodia underscored the importance of duty free quota
free access in sustaining his country's economic development. He spoke about Cambodia's
success in using the ILO program to improve labor standards and competitiveness. However, he
said "We are experiencing stiffer competition from Chinese and Vietnamese products and are seeing
a drop both in exports and GDP growth." He pointed out that a number of Cambodian factories had
closed their doors recently and that about 52,000 people had lost their jobs. He said: "We face more
tariffs than all of Sub Saharan Africa; about $407 million dollars while Africa faces $14 million dollars,
while we are just as poor as other African countries."
Ms. Stephanie Burgos from Oxfam America stressed the need for providing 100 percent duty free
quota free access for the LDCs, and for a clear, simple and predictable trade preferences program
which would stimulate investment and economic development in these countries. She said that for
every dollar that the US provides in aid to Cambodia and Bangladesh, it collects $7 in tariffs. She said
that the US "must make its trade and aid policies much more coherent." She also said that special
attention must be paid to trade capacity building in all LDCs and in making sure that countries are
able to utlilize the benefits awarded to them by US trade preference programs. She also pointed out
that Bangladesh has made investments in improving its labor standards and talked about the need
for providing countries with incentives to improve labor standards through market access, as the US
has done in Cambodia.
The event comes at the heels of a major hearing at the House Ways and Means Committee
examining US trade preference programs. Congressman McDermott plans to introduce new
legislation in the coming days granting more liberal market access for the UN designated LDCs and
African countries.
=END=