The Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, Badruddoza Chowdhury, recently returned home after talks with the US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington.

The talks focused on the situation in Afghanistan, export of Bangladeshi gas and Dhaka's plea for duty-free access for its readymade garments to the US market.

But Bangladesh's search for special trade facilities from its biggest export market apparently proved futile.

Bangladesh has been hit particularly hard by a contraction of the vital US market for its textile products.

Things got worse with fears of recession mounting following the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

This new problem came on the heels of US legislation last year allowing 72 African and Caribbean countries to export garments to the US without paying any duty.

Heavy dependence

Bangladesh is heavily dependent on the US market, sending 40% of its textile products to that country.

Bangladeshi exporters say they have faced unfair competition in the US market since the new legislation, and fears of recession after the World Trade Center attacks made things worse for them.

They say one-third of Bangladesh's garment factories have already had to shut due to lack of orders.

This has made more than 300,000 workers - mostly women - jobless.

Signs of the economic problem snowballing into a social crisis are already apparent.

Local media report that many young girls, who had escaped rural poverty by taking jobs in the garment factories, were now looking for new ways to survive.