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Dan Mozena termed Ticfa negotiation an 'inexplicably irritant' issue. "What's wrong with it?" he asked and said, "I see nothing wrong [in Ticfa]."
However, he told Bangladesh's business leaders on Saturday that the issue would be resolved through 'political process'.
After four years of negotiation, the ambassador said, it did not move forward giving a perception to Washington that Dhaka was 'walking back from its international labour obligations.'
"My advice to you is to make environment favourable to Washington," Mozena said, "Bangladesh needs to deliver a powerful message that it does support labour rights."
Bangladesh's Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes, however, recently told bdnews24.com that Ticfa was not signed as Washington was not willing to negotiate the issue any further.
"There are some textual matters where the US side informed us that there is no scope for further negotiations," he said.
The US ambassador on Jun 6 at a meeting with the leaders of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters' Association said the duty-free access was 'a kind of issue that will be raised in the forum to be created after Ticfa is signed.'
The US envoy on Saturday was speaking at a discussion meeting styled 'Bangladesh-USA bilateral trade: the way forward' at the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).
DCCI president Asif Ibrahim in his presentation sought US ambassador's support to get duty-free access of Bangladeshi products including apparel under the GSP programme.
Citing Bangladesh's 'enormous' resources and opportunities, the ambassador asked business leaders not to argue that Bangladesh was poor. 'It's a rich country because of its natural resources and its people'.
"Pursuing ambassadors would not solve the GSP or other business issues."
Mozena said the AFL–CIO petitioned to abolish GSP for Bangladesh as the country did not 'uphold labour rights' after the murder of a labour activist Aminul Islam who was associated with the AFL-CIO affiliate, USG-supported Solidarity Center in Dhaka. Washington has been pushing Dhaka to resolve the murder case saying it sent a 'wrong signal' to the US market.
The DCCI president said the current negotiation of TICFA should be conducted in such a way so that both the countries were equally benefited. "It (Ticfa) should provide a forum to look into each other's trade issues in a win-win situation."
He, however, suggested discussing Ticfa with the private sector in order to make it more 'transparent and business friendly'.
"We feel that we don't know much about it (TICFA). We are in the dark," he said.
Bangladesh currently pays on average 15.3 percent tariff for garment products to enter the US market whereas China, world's largest apparel supplier, pays 3 percent duty in the same market.
Bangladesh's garment is now enjoying duty-free facility to the EU, Canada, Japan and even China, and partially to India.
The total trade volume between the Bangladesh and US is around $6billion, according to latest available official statistics.
Bangladesh has long been pursuing the case of duty-free access of its products particularly apparels to the US market, the single largest export destination of the South Asian country.
Officials said most of the Bangladeshi goods have duty-free access to the US market, but the list does not include garment, the country's main exportable item.
Foreign investments
Dan Mozena on Saturday also said Bangladesh's political situation and bureaucracy stood in the way of foreign investment, despite its potentials to draw investors.
Citing his personal experiences during his previous assignments in Bangladesh 12-year back, the ambassador said an American investor wanted to invest in building new terminals in Chittagong. "But it didn't happen as a local politician said 'no'."
The US envoy said it was 'very hard' to invest here because of politics, enormous bureaucracy and corruption. "Investors hate (political) instability, uncertainty."
He said there was no problem in Bangladesh that could not be solved. "All can be resolved."
"Bangladesh is an exceptional country because its people are amazing."
"What they need is leadership, education and infrastructure," Mozena said inspiring business leaders to picture Bangladesh as the 7th largest economy in 2030 as it is the 7th largest country in terms of population.
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