Fifteen months after a deadly factory catastrophe cost Bangladesh U.S. trade privileges, its government and business leaders are pushing to get them back. A series of unsettling events involving the country's officials, however, has raised questions about how much has really changed there. In June a delegation led by Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and leaders of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) came to Washington to detail their progress on worker safety. The Bangladeshi government and the BGMEA argued it was time for the U.S. to restore the country to the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)-tariff breaks suspended following the April 2013 Rana Plaza collapse that killed more than 1,000 workers. The delegation included members of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, whose board includes officials from the BGMEA, Gap, Wal-Mart Stores, and Target. The Alliance says it has no stance on GSP but was there to promote safety efforts.
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