The ninth ministerial conference (MC9) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which was held in Bali on 3-6 December has created a new benchmark for the faltering Doha Development Round (DDR). Since the launch of the DDR in 2001, the international economy has undergone significant changes.
This has happened due to volatile food and commodity prices, shocks emanating from global financial and economic crisis, proliferation of regional and bilateral free trade arrangements and weak commitment to the Aid for Trade programme, according to the editorial of the current ICCB News Bulletin (October-December 2013 issue) of International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh released here on Tuesday.
Bangladesh has overtaken India in readymade garment exports despite the recent setbacks it received like instances of building collapses and fire at manufacturing units, says a study by Exim Bank.
Between January and October 2013, readymade shipments by Indian exporters to the US grew 6.3% to $3.2 billion, while the same by Bangladesh jumped 11.4% at $4.9 billion, the premier export finance agency said.
"In the absence of latest data, imports by the US are a very good benchmark of understanding the latest trends. Bangladesh has been aggressively pushing the garment exports and has made a slew of policy changes to facilitate those," Exim Bank chief general manager Pra...