The US request for such reforms this year was not only for export processing zones, but for the law as a whole.

It also requested Bangladesh to update the intellectual property rights laws to prevent export of counterfeit goods.

Both sides had convened the seventh meeting of the United States-Bangladesh Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) council in Dhaka.

The meeting was co-chaired by Brendan Lynch, acting assistant USTR for South and Central Asia, and Tapan Kanti Ghosh, secretary in Bangladesh’s commerce ministry, a press release from the US Embassy in Dhaka said.

The ILO's International Labour Conference will be held in November and that would be the perfect platform for Bangladesh to showcase the progress in its labour law reforms, said Ghosh.

The USTR wanted the minimum percentage of workers' consent needed to form a trade union in a factory to be brought down from 20 per cent. However, it did not suggest any specific percentage like the European Union, which wants the threshold to be lowered to 10 per cent, said Ghosh.

The United States also demanded easy repatriation of profit made by US firms. Ghosh replied that only one company is yet to send back its profit and the Bangladesh Bank is working on it.

Ghosh was assured that a way will be found out so that Bangladesh’s garment products manufactured with American cotton can be shipped duty-free or at a lower duty.

Bangladesh will also get US support at the next ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation as it seeks an extension of the transition period for trade benefits afforded to countries graduating from the least-developed country bracket.

Ten years ago Bangladesh's exports to the United States was worth $5 billion; now it is more than $10 billion, Ghosh added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)