CPD Working Paper 43
The EU-EBA Initiative
Market Access Implications and Potential Benefits for Bangladesh
The study was conducted by the CPD with a view to strategically analyse Bangladesh’s trade potentials in the context of the EU-EBA initiative, which replaced the previous EC-GSP scheme. The paper reviews the major features of the new initiative and highlights the major departing aspects. The paper also identifies products of Bangladesh’s export interest which have come under the purview of the new scheme, market access opportunities of the newly included products in the EU, and the supply-side capacity in Bangladesh in view of these opportunities. It then comes up with some suggested measures towards capacity building in relevant areas in order to be able to realise the potential benefits. The paper also points out the limitations embedded in the new EU initiative and put forward a number of pragmatic policy recommendations which could enhance Bangladesh’s capacity to gain substantially, particularly in the context of export diversification and market access in the EU.
Contributors: Debapriya Bhattacharya, Mustafizur Rahman and Ananya Raihan
Publication Period: October 2004