Dhaka //

No action will be taken to harm Bangladesh’s interests regarding the US’s 35 percent tariff imposition, said Trade Advisor Sheikh Bashiruddin. He said, we have an online meeting with the US on Friday. Based on that, we will determine the next course of action. And the government has not appointed any lobbyist for this negotiation.

He said this in response to questions from journalists in front of his office at the Ministry of Commerce at the Secretariat today, Thursday.

The Ministry of Commerce has sought a meeting time for the third round of talks with America on counter-tariffs. However, the US has not yet given a specific time for a direct meeting. In this situation, the Ministry of Commerce will hold an online meeting with the US on Friday, the Trade Advisor said.

In response to a question about the imposition of US tariffs, Sheikh Bashiruddin said, “We wrote a letter to the US Commerce Minister the day before yesterday about what to do. Now we are waiting for a response and an invitation to that letter. If we receive a response and an invitation, we will all go there with our team.”

Time is short, August 1 is ahead. In response to the question that an answer should come by then, he said, “It is as necessary for us as it is for the US. There is no stagnation in our activities in this regard. Our activities are moving forward quite dynamically. We have presented our positions correctly. We have presented what we need to do based on our capabilities. Now we are waiting for a response. We will leave as soon as we get a response.”

What are your expectations? When asked, the advisor said, “I have already said our expectations. We expect something good. We are doing what needs to be done in doing something good. We feel that we will get something good from them.”

When asked if there was any discussion on the appointment of lobbyists on behalf of the business community, he said, “That is the business community’s prerogative. The government has not appointed any lobbyists on its own. I don’t know if lobbyists have anything to do with the structure on which the incident is happening. Because we have to bring about changes in various matters. No one except Bangladesh will be able to understand these changes.”

He said, “There are many types of inter-ministerial legal processes in this change. I think it is not possible for a lobbyist to understand those legal processes. We are inter-ministerially working together with almost all the ministries of the government. We have been working day and night for the last 15 days. In all, we have presented our position, and we will leave if invited.”

In response to a question about a news item circulating on social media that undermined the interests of Bangladesh and created an opportunity to give benefits to the United States, the advisor said, “I have no comment on this. Like you, I am also a Bangladeshi. Why would I work by undermining the interests of Bangladesh? A completely irrelevant question. The effort we are making does not require an inter-ministerial meeting. If we accept something specific and work on it, it is done. Why is there a need for effort when it comes to undermining interests?

In response to the question of whether you expect to get an invitation before August, he said, ‘We want an online schedule between today and tomorrow. So, it will be understood after the online meeting. In short, they have given us an online meeting schedule in the context of the letter because we are moving forward with dynamism. Based on this online meeting, we will decide our next course of action. The online meeting will probably be held tomorrow (Friday).

When asked what to do next if they do not respond before August, the Trade Advisor said, ‘We hope we will get the schedule.’

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