Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) president Rizwan Rahman on Thursday proposed forming a 'national strategy committee' to get the GSP plus facility in the EU market after the country's graduation from LDC status.
"After graduating from least developed country (LDC) status in 2024, Bangladesh would have to ratify 27 international conventions to get generalised scheme of preferences plus (GSP+) facility for export," he said.
He added: "To take time-bound actions to avail GSP+ in the European market, a national strategy committee is required to coordinate all stakeholders and relevant agencies to take time-befitting preparations."
The proposal came when a DCCI delegation paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister's Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman at the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) auditorium in the city's Agargaon, said a press release issued by DCCI.
At the programme, the DCCI president also called for an effective introduction of integrated one-stop service (OSS) with skilled human resources from all relevant service delivery agencies to make investment easy and simple.
Besides, OSS of BIDA needs coordination with all service agencies and inter-operability with the OSS of Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA), National Single Window and Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority.
Referring to a 39.10 per cent fall in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the fiscal year 2019-20 comparing to the previous fiscal year, he also suggested devising a national strategy for FDI promotion.
In this regard, he said, the strategy should be aligned with the industrial policy, export policy, foreign exchange regulations, import policy and other government strategies.
Speaking at the programme, Mr Salman F Rahman stressed the need for changing the mindset of the citizens for paying taxes to increase the tax-GDP ratio.
In the last fiscal year, he said, National Board of Revenue (NBR) brought in 55,000 new taxpayers, but the tax net still needs to be widened.
The government is also working to upgrade and modernise the overall revenue structure in the country, he noted.
ahb_mcj2009@yahoo.com