UK to continue GSP for Bangladesh: Envoy
He calls for improving regulatory issues to attract foreign investment
Diplomatic Correspondent
Robert Chatterton Dickson
The UK will continue to provide Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facility for Bangladesh for three more years even after its graduation to a developing country from the least developed one.
British High Commissio-ner to Bangladesh Robert Chatterton Dickson on Wednesday said the UK will provide Bangladesh with the GSP facility up to 2027 so that it can prepare to face new economic challenges after the graduation from the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
The British high commissioner was talking to a group of journalists at his residence on the outcome of the first-ever UK-Bangladesh Trade and Investment Dialogue held at the Commerce Ministry in Dhaka on Tuesday.
The new African Free Continental Trade Area phases out 90% of tariffs on all goods traded between African Union member states over a 5 to 10 year period. This seeks to boost intra-African trade and investment in regional value chains. The current 41% share of SA agricultural exports that goes to Africa is concentrated in SADC. The opening of other markets presents an opportunity for further expansion in goods such as oranges, apples and wine.
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The 1st of January 2021 marked the historic and much-anticipated start of trading under the newly established African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). This trade agreement, signed by 54 of the 55 African Union member states, seeks to deepen market integration on the continent, boost intra-African trade and promote regional value chains toward economic transformation through industrialisation.
New opportunities for South African agriculture: the African Continental Free Trade Area polity.org.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from polity.org.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Sinha commenced her tenure as UNCDF Executive Secretary, the highest leadership rank in the institution, on Monday. Established in 1966, the New York-headquarted organisation provides micro-finance access to Least Developed Countries (LDCs), with the mandate to unlock the full potential of public and private finance. She will oversee the organisation s efforts to deliver scalable impact in order to make the international financial architecture work for the world s frontier and pre-frontier markets; with a specific emphasis on supporting sustainable development for women, youth, small and medium-sized enterprises, smallholder farmers, and other traditionally underserved communities. In a statement, Sinha said her goal would be to make C in UNCDF (capital) to be highly catalytic in mobilising manifold the public and private finance for the LDCs it serves and in developing a new era of engagement with capital markets in 2021 and onwards.