Sanctions a distance possibility, concern warrants attention: Debapriya

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, CPD Distinguished Fellow, in an interview with BSS, talks about Trade Sanctions on Bangladesh, published on BSS website on Saturday, 11 January 2014. Republished in The Financial Express and Bangladesh Today.

Sanctions a distance possibility, concern warrants attention: Debapriya

A BSS Special — By Ashik Chowdhury

DHAKA, January 11, 2014 (BSS)- Trade sanctions on Bangladesh is a distance possibility, but the concerns expressed by some of the western countries, including the European Union (EU) against the backdrop of the January 5 general elections, warrant proper attention of the government, said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya.

His comment came after speculative reports had appeared in a section of local and international media about possible trade sanctions against Bangladesh particularly by the EU.

“Imposing trade sanction on a country is guided by the preference receiving country’s state of labour standard, human rights and good governance,” said the economist, who was an Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international organizations in Geneva and Vienna.

Talking to BSS on concern that Bangladesh may be denied generilised system of preference (GSP), the Distinguished Fellow of the leading think- tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said the labour standard issue came under serious questions after the Rana Plaza disaster in April last year.

Following the tragic accident, there were reports that the EU was considering moves against Bangladesh, including restricting trade access to the European single market, in an attempt to press the country to improve its labour practices.

Dr Debapriya said with support of global buyers of Bangladeshi apparels, the garment sector has initiated measurers to improve labour safety and standard.

He said the second issue – the human rights – was most recently taken by the EU to impose a sanction against Sri Lanka when the Lankan government could not deal properly with the alleged war crimes while it was dealing the Tamil insurgency at the final stage.

Although the violation of human rights is not uncommon in Bangladesh, the situation is not comparable with Sri Lanka, he said.

However, he said the good governance issue requires attention as Belarus was denied GSP by the EU on questions about its electoral process.

Above all, the macro-economist, also a former civil society activist, said imposing sanctions on a country is not so easy because the EU should follow a long process as it is no longer a matter of only administrative issue, but often requires political measures.

Besides, he said we should remember that Bangladesh Diaspora would also be lobbying with the policy-makers of the EU parliament depending on their political orientation, he said.

“Who is going to suffer from the economic sanctions at the end of the day?” Dr Debapriya questioned and confidently expressed his belief that the EU would consider the impact on poor people before imposing any sanction.

The economist dispelled the chance of imminent sanctions, but advised that the government should pay proper attention to the concerns that the western countries raised after the general election.

Referring to the two recent statements given by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of EU Catherine Ashton, Dr Debapriya said the issues raised in the statements should be dealt carefully by changing the political reality on the ground.

In the statements issued before and after elections, the EU urges all sides to refrain from violence and encourages all political leaders to respect the right of the people of Bangladesh to express their democratic choice.

Last week, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her post-election press briefing, strongly refuted the propaganda about a possible economic sanction on Bangladesh against the backdrop of persisting political deadlock.

Responding to journalists, the Prime Minister confidently ruled out the chances of any sanction against Bangladesh as her government effectively offered better life to the people in the past five years.

Listing briefly the phenomenal success in economic, human and social development sectors that were achieved during her current tenure and drew global appreciation, she said the reserves, exports and per-capita income increased significantly with rapid decline in poverty.