The European Union (EU) imported the most from Bangladesh under its Everything But Arms (EBA) preferential trade scheme.
A report, prepared by the European Commission, showed that EU’s 66 per cent EBA preferential imports came from the South Asian country in 2016-17 followed by Cambodia (18 per cent).
EBA is the EU's flagship trade instrument designed to help the Least Developed Countries. It is one of the three Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) provided by the EU.
The report also showed that three countries took up the largest part of all EU imports under the overall GSP benefits (including non-GSP imports).
The counties are India (21 per cent), Vietnam (18 per cent) and Bangladesh (9 per cent). Of those, the first two ones are Standard GSP beneficiaries and the third one (Bangladesh) is an EBA beneficiary.
Again, all the three countries are also the largest beneficiaries in terms of GSP preferential imports alone, and that amount is respectively by 27, 11 and 25 per cent.