Senator John McCain on Friday formally announced to be the co-sponsor of the bill titled "Tariff Relief Assistance for Developing Economies Act of 2005" (Trade Act of 2005) after a BGMEA delegation met him on Thursday seeking his support to pass the bill.

A delegation of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), accompanied by Grameen Bank Managing Director Dr Muhammad Yunus, is now visiting the US to seek support from influential US senators and congressmen to pass the bill.

The BGMEA also held separate meetings with Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Richard Durbin, Congressman Joseph Crowley and Congressman Jim Colbe.

In the meetings, Dr Yunus explained two things helped Bangladesh bring about a significant change after its independence-- one is micro credit programme and the other is the rise of readymade garment industry that has been helping to empower the poor women.

Bangladesh's RMG sector will face a serious setback and these poor women will become jobless if the bill is not passed, he told the US lawmakers.

BGMEA leaders requested Hillary Clinton to be the co-sponsor of the bill. In her reply, Hillary said she has good sympathy for Bangladesh and will extend her full support to pass it.

Senator Richard Durbin also assured BGMEA leaders of extending full support.

The bill seeking duty-free market access of all products from Bangladesh and 13 other least developed countries (LDCs) to the US market was placed in the lower chamber of Congress on February 17 and it was also introduced in the upper house on January 26.

Four senators, both from Democrats and Republicans, supported moving the Trade Act of 2005.

John McCain, who has a Bangladeshi adopted daughter, told the BGMEA leaders that he would extend his full support to pass the bill.

BGMEA President Annisul Huq is leading the delegation while other members include Second Vice-president Anwar-ul-Alam Chowdhury and former vice-president M Golam Faruq.

An international seminar was held at the Capitol Hill on April 28. Joseph Crowley and Jim Colbe told the seminar that Bangladesh economy is heavily dependent on the RMG sector and it will be very difficult for the industry to survive in the post- MFA era if the bill is not passed.

Another seminar jointly organised by the BGMEA and US Advisory Council on the same day where envoys from East Timor, Yemen, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Nepal to the US were present.

BGMEA moved the bill for the rest of the countries -- Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Laos, the Maldives, Nepal, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, East Timor, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Yemen.