Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine August Issue 2018 | Page 31

BANGLADESH CANVAS
Bangladesh works hard for its smooth graduation
from LDC to ‘developing nation'
Amidst rising concerns among
apparel makers regarding the effect
of Bangladesh graduating from
Least Developed Country (LDC)
to the ‘developing nation’ status,
the country is reportedly all set to
push for getting the LDC-related
benefits for an extended period by
co-hosting an international event
on ‘Supporting Smooth Transition
of the LDCs towards a Sustainable
Graduation’, during the upcoming
‘High Level Political Forum’ at New
York.
Many in the industry reportedly
have apprehensions that
graduating to the developing nation
status might have vital economic
implications for the sector. It may
be mentioned here that as an LDC,
Bangladesh enjoys 12 per cent
preference margin for its apparel
exports to Europe under the
European Union’s Everything but
Arms (EBA) Initiative.
Led by Finance Minister AMA
Muhith, a high-level delegation
from Bangladesh would
reportedly attend the event, which
coincidentally comes just months
after Bangladesh fulfilled the
criteria for LDC graduation during
the latest triennial review of the
UN’s Committee for Development
Policy. Given Bangladesh’s
rate of progress, the country is
expected to graduate from the
LDC status by 2024. Expected to
be attended by representatives
from 47 least developed countries
(LDCs) from across the globe, the
upcoming event jointly organised by
Bangladesh with the United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP),
will reportedly focus on challenges
faced by the LDCs during and after
the graduation phase. “This will
give us a platform to put pressure
on the international community to
continue the LDC-related facilities
for an extended period of time,”
reportedly maintained Monowar
Ahmed, Additional Secretary of
the Economic Relations Division of
Bangladesh, while speaking to the
media.
Ahmed further underlined that
this is critical for smoothing the
graduation process of not only
Bangladesh but many other
countries that would graduate in the
coming years.
BEZA pushes for duty-free import of spare parts
for factories located in EZs
With an aim to popularise
economic zones and attract more
investors to set up manufacturing
units, the Bangladesh Economic
Zones Authority (BEZA) is
reportedly pushing for ensuring
duty-free imports of spare parts
for factories located within the
economic zones. export processing zones under the
Bangladesh Export Processing
Zones Authority (BEPZA) also
got exemption from payment
of customs duty, regulatory
duty, supplementary duty and
value-added tax on imports of
spare parts along with capital
machinery.
It may be mentioned here
that a host of multinational,
domestic and foreign entities
involved in readymade garment
manufacturing, accessories
and textiles have set up their
respective units in various
economic zones of the country. It may be mentioned here
that according to BEZA, the
Government has planned to
develop a total of 100 economic
zones at different parts of the
country in the next 15 years.
Under this initiative, 28 economic
zones would be developed under
public and private sectors and are
reportedly progressing fast while
BEZA has reportedly already
As per media reports, BEZA
Executive Chairman Paban
Chowdhury recently wrote a letter
to the National Board of Revenue
(NBR) requesting it to include
incentive package for investors
under the same, while underlining
that industries located in the
given 6 organisations final
clearance and 17 organisations
pre-qualification licenses for
setting up the economic zones
under private sector.
These economic zones are
expected to generate one
crore additional jobs and US
$ 40 billion additional export
opportunities annually.
The BEZA earlier this year
decided to allot 500 acres of
land to Bangladesh Garment
Manufacturers and Exporters
Association (BGMEA) for setting
up a well-planned readymade
garments industry park in the
Mirsarai economic zone of
Chittagong to increase apparel
export.
www.apparelresources.com | August 2018 | Apparel Online Bangladesh
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