The meeting hosted by Bangladesh Ambassador to the United States Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury and attended by representatives of most TRADE (Tariff Relief Assistance for Developing Economies) Act beneficiary countries emphasised the importance of being a unified group with a unified message.

The envoys of Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Nepal, permanent representatives of the Permanent Mission of Timor-Leste and Samoa attended the meeting.

The progress of the TRADE Act 2005 was discussed in details at the meeting. The meeting also took the note of the conference of the leading apparel exporters' associations of seven Asia-Pacific countries held recently in Dhaka.

It was informed at the meeting that the leaders of the apparel exporters association extended their full support to a proposed legislation and decided to work in cohesion to get duty-free access to the US market for the least developed countries (LDCs).

The meeting was told that the US Congress is currently debating Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-Cafta).

The envoys hoped that the TRADE Act would be in a position to move forward after the Congress has completed work on Cafta.

The meeting observed that it would be helpful if the ambassadors play a role at the meetings with the key Republican and Democrat members of the US Congress to co-sponsor the TRADE Act.

The Bangladesh ambassador focused on the initiatives taken by Dhaka in mobilising support of the US legislators for the TRADE Act. He apprised the meeting of the visits by Bangladeshi dignitaries since the ambassadors last met in April 2005.

Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman and Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan recently held meetings with several key lawmakers including senators Edward M Kennedy and John Hununu, and congressmen Joseph Crowly, Barney Frank, Gary Ackerman, Jim McDermott, Robert Wexler and Peter King.

The US legislators assured the Bangladesh ministers of their support in enacting the trade law. The envoys of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Timor-Leste and Samoa also apprised the meeting of their own efforts in moving the bill forward.