Dhaka, Jul 29 Bangladesh was not responsible for the deadlock in the TICFA negotiation with the United States, the Foreign Secretary said on Sunday. Mohamed Mijarul Quayes made the remark responding to a question on TICFA at a press briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Bangladesh and the United States are engaged in negotiations with US to sign TICFA for four years.
US Ambassador to Dhaka Dan Mozena on Saturday said Bangladesh would not get duty-free access of its products to the US market unless Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement (TICFA) was signed.
"Bangladesh is always ready for one or two rounds of negotiations on TICFA draft," Quayes said.
The Secretary, however, declined comment on the US envoy's remark but made a general statement on the issue.
Quayes said: "The state of the negotiations is we are very close and we need to agree on some minor residual aspects of the draft."
"You just cannot come up with a document and say you have to sign it as there is no scope for negotiations," he said without naming any country.
The Secretary said Bangladesh was committed to establishing labour rights and signed several international labour conventions under International Labour Organisation.
When asked about the reported US notion that Bangladesh was shying away from its commitment to establish labour rights, an annoyed-looking Foreign Secretary said: "You can find out yourself how many ILO convention Bangladesh has signed and how many the United States signed."
Bangladesh signed seven out of eight ILO conventions while the United States signed four.
"It is a matter of record that Bangladesh's commitment to labour rights is absolute," Quayes said.
The Secretary said the US talked about labour rights while it imposed 16 to 32 percent duty on most of the Bangladeshi exportable products including readymade garment.
"I told them when you impose such duty we have to cut all sorts of corners to remain competitive," Quayes said. "If you withdraw the duty, we can use the money for improving terms of employment of the workers who are employed in the garment factories."
"You are talking about the rights of workers, you give me this 32 percent," Quayes said.
The United States is the single biggest export destination for Bangladesh products from where about 30 percent of the total export earning comes.
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