held at BRAC Inn Auditorium on Saturday, 18 April 2015, CPD organised a dialogue on “Non-Tariff Barriers in Bangladesh-India Trade: Addressing Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Concerns.”
View more news reports on the event
Published in The Daily Star
Eliminate barriers to trade with India
CPD calls for an agreement so that Bangladesh and India accept each other’s standardisation certification
Star Business Report
Bangladesh should sign a bilateral agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures with India so that the countries accept each other’s standardisation certification, the Centre for Policy Dialogue said yesterday.
The call came as the South Asian economic giant has become a major market of Bangladeshi agricultural products.
SPS measures deal with food safety and animal and plant health. They aim to ensure that a country’s consumers are being supplied with food that is safe to eat — by acceptable standards — while also ensuring that strict health and safety regulations are not being used as an excuse to shield domestic producers from competition.
“I think Bangladesh has a lot of opportunities to export agri-products to India. The government can sign a bilateral agreement with India for resolving the SPS problems,” said Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of the CPD.
He called for signing the agreement as the South Asian Regional Standards Organisation (SARSO), a common certification panel for the Saarc region, is yet to be fully effective though it started journey in April 2014.
Of Bangladesh’s total exports to India, 20 percent are garments and the rest are others, especially agri-products, he said.
“We should deepen trade relations with India to exploit the trade opportunity in the agriculture sector,” he said.
At the same time, the government should improve the capacity of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), Rahman said.
He was speaking at a seminar on “non-tariff barriers in Bangladesh-India trade: addressing SPS issues and concerns” at Brac Centre Inn in Dhaka. Mahbubur Rahman, president of International Chamber of Commerce- Bangladesh, chaired the event.
“We were supposed to be the best friend of India for having commonalities in culture, lifestyle and food habit, but unfortunately we are not,” said M Anis Ud Dowla, chairman of ACI Ltd, a local company that has business with India.
He said seed export to India requires quarantine test, which is done in India, and Bangladeshi exporters need to wait for four weeks to receive certificates. “By this time the season ends and Bangladesh cannot export seeds to India.”
He said both the governments should sit together to resolve the certification issues politically.
Syed Humayun Kabir, director general of SARSO, said common standards for two items — biscuit and refined sugar — have been set so far for all Saarc nations. “Thirty more items are in the process for getting common standards,” Kabir said.
Sometimes trade barriers arise due to a lack of awareness of rules and regulations, said Mostafa Abid Khan, director of Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute.
Zillul Hye Razi, trade adviser to the European Union delegation in Bangladesh, said a lack of managerial capacity often leads to such barriers.
Tanveer Islam, general manager (export) of Pran Group, which has been facing SPS-related problems for exporting its products to India, said Bangladeshi exporters need to wait for approvals from the Central Food Laboratory (CFL) of India.
India has specific packaging requirements, which is another barrier, he said, adding that all food samples need to be sent to Kolkata as CFL facilities are not available near all land ports.
Khaleda Akhter, senior research associate of the CPD, said bilateral trade between Bangladesh and India has been on the rise. Bangladesh’s exports to India increased to $456 million in fiscal 2013-14 from $144 million in 2004-05.
Bangladesh imports goods worth $6 billion from India through formal channels each year.
“It is interesting to note that the share of non-apparel items is significantly higher than that of garment products in Bangladesh’s exports to India,” she said in a keynote.
Farooq Ahmed, secretary general of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Amitava Chakraborty, director general of the WTO cell of the commerce ministry, and Humayun Rashid, acting president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also spoke.
Published in Dhaka Tribune
CPD: Comprehensive Indo-Bangla deal stressed to boost farm export
Tribune Report
Trade analysts have underscored the need for signing a comprehensive agreement between Bangladesh and India for boosting agricultural exports by resolving the non-conforming sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) that undermine the trade potentials of the two next door neighbors.
They came up with the recommendation at a dialogue titled “Non-Tariff Barriers in Bangladesh-India Trade: Addressing Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Concerns,”which was organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) at a city hotel yesterday.
Certification and testing-related requirements in the Indian market for agricultural and food products create problems for exporters, said KhaledaAkhter, senior research associate of CPD while presenting her keynote speech.
Referring to the findings of a CPD perception survey conducted at major India-Bangladesh land ports,she observed that the related concerns are-harmonisation of food standards, mutual recognition of conformity assessment, dispute settlement and technical cooperation with transparency etc.
“Bangladesh’s export to India is not expanding significantly mainly due to the lack of capacity building of the exporters,” said AmitavaChakraborty, director general (WTO cell) of the ministry of commerce, while addressing the dialogue as chief gust. The second impediment is absence of institutional strengthening while the third is lack of product diversification for the export destinations. Policy Analyst of CUTS PrithvirajNath said, “The major challenges are the capacity issues as the customs are not aware of trade certification standards.”
The exporters need to be aware of the drawbacks, organisations like BSTI and the Agreement on the Establishment of South Asian Regional Standards Organisation (SARSO) will need to undergo institutional capacity building and going for an SPS agreement within the context of SAFTA to increase exports to India, opined CPD Executive Director Mustafizur Rahman.
A bilateral agreement won’t be a viable solution because problems arise from outdated regulations in the trade policies, implementation of import policies in Bangladesh and countervailing duties (CVDs), which are trade import duties imposed under WTO rules to neutralise the negative effects of subsidies, said Mostafa Abid Khan, director, Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI).
Any certification issued by Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB) should be accepted in all the countries, said Mahbubur Rahman, deputy director of BAB.
“But in reality, the Indian customs is not accepting any accredited laboratory certificates other than from India, and Bangladesh government should settle these issue.”
Zillul Hye Razi, trade advisor, European Union Delegation to Bangladesh, suggested for an efficient administrative system to maintain the hygiene and quality of perishable agro goods for export.
Published in New Age
Trade experts, exporters want NTBs in India market to go
Staff Correspondent
Trade experts and business leaders on Saturday said that removal of non-tariff barriers to export of the Bangladeshi products to the Indian market should get top priority in any discussion between the governments of the two countries.
A level playing field should also be ensured in the Indian market for the Bangladeshi exporters through removal of NTBs, they said.
At a dialogue programme on NTBs in Bangladesh-India trade: addressing sanitary and phytosanitary concerns, they also wanted a common SAARC standards for products produced in the region to simplify export procedures and remove NTBs.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue organised the programme at the BRAC Centre Inn in Dhaka to disseminate a study report on the issue.
According to the study, SPS measures such as testing, certification, labelling and packaging, registration, inspection, quarantine requirements of India are major concerns for the Bangladeshi exporters.
Such SPS measures affect Bangladesh’s export adversely due to damage and fall in product quality from delays at port, reduced life of products and increase cost of doing business, it said.
The governments take SPS measures on scientific basis to protect human, animal and plant life and health from diseases through import of products.
‘NTBs should get top priority in discussion between the governments as NTMs are creating bottleneck in export of Bangladeshi export to India,’ International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh president Mahbubur Rahman said while presiding over the programme.
‘We need a level playing field in the Indian market and for that NTBs should be removed,’ he said.
ACI Limited chairman Anis Ud Dowla said that both the governments would have to take these issues politically and have political will to solve the problems.
He blamed that some vested groups from India created ‘known and unknown’ barriers when any initiative was taken to remove NTBs.
‘If there is no barrier in existence, then it is created,’ he said.
CPD executive director Mustafizur Rahman said that the SAARC countries should strengthen South Asian Regional Standards Organisation to set common standards for products produced in the region to remove NTBs.
He also suggested that the government should also take initiative to sign an agreement with India so that SPS measures could mutually be recognised.
Currently, more than 80 per cent of Bangladeshi export to India is non-RMG products and signing SPS mutual recognition agreement will play significant role in increasing export of non-RMG products, he said.
South Asian Network on Economic Modelling executive director Selim Raihan said that NTMs created barriers to export but the major concern was lack of capacity of exporters and institutions in facing SPS measures.
There is no option but complying with standard issues through improving quality of products, he said.
PRAN-RFL Group general manger (export) Tanveer Islam said they were facing different non-tariff barriers related to testing requirement as the Indian authorities were not accepting quality certificates of the BSTI though they promised to accept it.
‘Each consignment and each product are needed to take testing certificate from Indian laboratories that creates hassle in export and makes it time consuming and costly,’ he said.
PRAN has also to maintain separate packaging for products for the Indian market, he said.
Commerce ministry additional secretary Amitava Chakroborty said that capacity building for exporters and institutions was highly important to address SPS-related issues.
Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute director Mostafa Abid Khan said there would be many SPS measures but exporters would have to understand which were justifiable and which turned into barriers.
SARSO director general Humayun Kabir said that the SARSO was working to develop SAARC common standards for products commonly traded in the region.
CPD senior research associate Khaleda Akhter presented the key findings of the study.
Former commerce secretary Sohel Ahmed Chowdhury, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry acting president Humayun Rahsid, Business Initiative Leading Development chief executive officer Ferdaus Ara Begum, MCCI secretary general Farooq Ahmed, India Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry secretary Jahangir Bin Alam spoke, among others, at the programme.
Published in The Financial Express
CPD for bilateral SPS agreement
Product quality key to overcoming Indian NTBs
FE Report
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) has suggested inking a bilateral agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures between Bangladesh and India to help remove the much-discussed Indian Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs).
The think tank also said that such a deal could be signed under the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) framework.
It also noted that trade barriers originating from SPS need to be reviewed carefully as no country would make compromise on safety and standard of food they import.
The suggestions came at a dialogue, organised by the CPD on Saturday. It was organised to review the issues and concerns on SPS measures and identify whether SPS measures turned into NTBs in the Bangladesh-India bilateral trade.
Mahbubur Rahman, president of the International Chamber of Commerce, presided over the trade dialogue where he stressed the need for a level playing field in the bilateral trade.
“I have no reservation about importing goods from India, but Bangladeshi exporters also have to get equal opportunity,” said Mr Rahman. “Many Bangladeshi products are very much global-standard. It means our manufactures have capacity.”
Taking part in the discussion, Mr M Anis Ud Dowla, Chairman of ACI Limited, said sometimes it took four weeks to release exported seed from quarantine system and by that time seeds start germinating making those unusable.
He stressed political will and action to ease regulations of standards for enhancing bilateral trade and export from Bangladesh.
Mr Tanvir Islam, general manager of PRAN group, said that laboratory testing of each consignment of their products turns out to be very time- consuming.
“For export to India, we have to make separate type of packaging which is different from the rest of the world,” he told the meet.
In her keynote presentation, Mrs Khaleda Akhter of CPD said that several certification, registration, testing and packaging requirements create difficulties in exporting to the Indian market. Citing an example, she said that Bangladeshi exporter of packaged food has to use ‘veg’ or ‘non-veg’ sign along with name and address of an Indian importer on the packet. The Food and Safety Standard (Packaging and Labelling) Regulation 2011 has made such tagging provision mandatory.
“Is it not a kind of NTB to discourage Bangladeshi exporters?” she added.
Prithviraj Nath, a trade expert from Consumer Unity Trust Society (CUTS) of India, however, made it clear that the provision is universal, not for any specific country. That means both the Indian local manufacturers and the exporters to India have to comply with this packaging regulation.
Dr Selim Raihan, a professor of economics at the University of Dhaka, said that India is a growing economy and its growing consumers become more conscious on quality of products, while in Bangladesh similar consciousness was increasing.
“Thus, without ensuring quality of products, Bangladeshi manufacturers and exporters can’t enhance export to India. Time is coming when comparative advantage on quality will be crucial to grabbing Indian market,” he continued.
Chief guest of the programme Mr Amitava Chakrovarty, additional secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, opined that as per World Trade Organisation (WTO) rule, SPS measure could be taken to ensure food safety as well as animal and plant health measures.
“But these have to have scientific basis and can’t be used as an excuse for protecting domestic producers,” he said.
Professor Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of the CPD, mentioned that South Asia Regional Standard Organisation (SARSO) started journey in 2011 and this body could work to harmonise product standards among the regional countries.
Mr Humayun Rashid, acting president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), was present as guest of honour.
Published in Daily Sun
Removing Barriers to Indo-Bangla Trade
Developing infrastructure, political decision vital keys
Staff Correspondent
Political decisions and local infrastructure development are the keys to removing tariff and non-tariff barriers to India-Bangladesh trade which is largely in favour of Delhi, analysts observed at a dialogue in Dhaka on Saturday. Local experts, economists, bureaucrats, regulators and business leaders also came with numerous suggestions including capacity building of exporters as well as boosting Bangladesh’s export to India amidst diverse trade barriers. They also suggested that strengthening of institutional capacities and necessary training of new exporters should be supportive to the initiatives of exporters’ capacity building. The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised the discussion on “Non-Tariff Barriers in Bangladesh-India Trade: Addressing Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Concerns,” at BRAC Centre Inn. President of the International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh also the chair of the event, Mahbubur Rahman said, “India exported US$6 billion worth of goods to Bangladesh against Bangladesh’s $500 million exports to India in 2013-14FY. “The trade gap should be narrowed for which both the countries have to sit and devise plans how to address the issue,” he said, adding: “It is more important whether both the countries get equal opportunities than volume of exports.” Inking a comprehensive agreement between Bangladesh and India was also suggested for resolving the non-conforming SPS measures that undermine trade potentials of the two countries, especially in agricultural exports. CPD’s senior research associate Khaleda Akhter presented the keynote paper at the event, moderated by Prof Musfafizur Rahman, Executive Director of the centre. The keynote speaker and the discussants shared the same opinion that SPS measures like laboratory testing, registration and certification became non-tariff barriers (NTBs) in absence of a comprehensive agreement and appropriate mechanisms and initiatives to deal with the SPS concerns. Many participants, however, debated whether Bangladesh could get more share in Indian market amidst the SPS concerns and other NTBs.
Published in The Independent
Experts focus on capacity building
Narrowing trade gap with India
BSS
Capacity building of exporters came up at the top of the recommendations as experts, economists, bureaucrats, regulators and business leaders concluded a discussion on the ways of enhancing Bangladesh’s export to India amidst diverse trade barriers, reports BSS. They also suggested that strengthening of institutional capacities and necessary training of new exporters should be supportive to the initiatives of exporters’ capacity building.
The think-tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised the discussion on “Non-Tariff Barriers in Bangladesh-India Trade: Addressing Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Concerns,” at BRAC Inn in the capital city yesterday.
Following the presentation of the keynote paper by CPD senior research associate Khaleda Akhter and the panel and open discussions, a comprehensive agreement between Bangladesh and India was also suggested for resolving the non-conforming SPS measures that undermine trade potentials of the two countries especially in agricultural exports.
The keynote speaker and the discussants shared the same opinion that SPS measures like laboratory testing, registration and certification became as non-tariff barriers (NTBs) in the absence of a comprehensive agreement and appropriate mechanisms and initiatives to deal with the SPS concerns.
Many participants, however, debated whether Bangladesh could get more share in Indian market amidst the SPS concerns and other NTBs; and eventually they came up with the recommendation that capacity building of exporters would be a catalyst for Bangladesh to cut trade gap with India by increasing exports.
Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data shows bilateral trade between Bangladesh and India have remained highly in favour of India, with
Bangladesh exporting $456 million worth of goods against its import of $6.063 billion from India in 2014.
Many participants of the discussion believed that the higher import from India was in fact beneficial to Bangladesh as most of the imports were either raw materials to produce goods for export or to meet domestic demand at more competitive prices.
International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh (ICCB) President Mahbubur Rahman chaired the discussion following introductory remarks from CPD Executive Director Professor Mustafizur Rahman.
Mahbubur Rahman said there should be a level-playing ground so Bangladesh could increase its export to India without facing tariff and non-tariff barriers.
He suggested that the SPS concerns should be taken seriously both at the business and political fronts, which would surely be beneficial to Bangladesh and India.
Commerce ministry additional secretary Amitav Chakra-borty said that the government had been trying to solve the concerning issues and as a result, export to India showed rising trend in the recent years.
Referring to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), he said the SPS agreement allows countries set their own standards, but those must be based on science and should not be arbitrary or unjustifiably discriminating between countries where identical or similar conditions prevail.
He said Bangladesh could increase export to India by availing the duty and quota free market access, offered by New Delhi, and with increasing capacity of exporters.
Chakraborty, also the director general of WTO Cell at commerce ministry, observed that the country’s export to India was not expanding significantly due to the lack of capacity building of the exporters.
“The second impediment is absence of institutional strengthening and the third – lack of product diversification for the export destinations,” he said.
Published in The Observer
Boosting Dhaka-Delhi Trade
Experts for resolving non-tariff barriers
Staff Correspondent
A comprehensive agreement between Bangladesh and India is needed to resolve the non-tariff barriers that weaken trade potential of the two countries, speakers at a dialogue in Dhaka have suggested.
Bangladesh’s exporters observed that laboratory testing, registration and certification among other things are being used as non-tariff barriers in absence of appropriate mechanisms and initiatives.
The dialogue on Non-Tariff Barriers in Bangladesh-India Trade: Addressing Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Concerns was organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue at the BRAC Inn auditorium in the capital on Saturday.
Professor Mustafizur Rahman, CPD’s Executive Director, summarised the observations of the discussants in three points- “firstly, exporters need to be aware of the drawbacks in the trade, secondly, organisations like BSTI and the Agreement on the Establishment of South Asian Regional Standards Organisation (SARSO) will need to undergo institutional capacity building and going for an SPS agreement within the context of SAFTA to increase Bangladesh’s exports to India.”
CPD Senior Research Associate Khaleda Akhter in her keynote presentation said exporters felt that certification and testing related requirements in the Indian market for agricultural and food products create problems for exporters.
“The study findings indicated that the attendant concerns include harmonisation of food standards, mutual recognition of conformity assessment, dispute settlement and technical cooperation with transparency etc, according to a CPD perception survey conducted at major India-Bangladesh land ports,” she said.
Md Tanveer Islam, General Manager for Export, Pran Group, noted that all food samples need to be sent to Kolkata, which is about 400-500 kilometres away, as Central Food Laboratory (CFL) facilities of India are not available near all land ports. Specific packaging requirement for India is another impediment to export expansions, he added.
Amitava Chakraborty, Director General (WTO Cell) and Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, observed that Bangladesh’s export to India is not expanding significantly because of the lack of capacity building of the exporters mainly. The lack of product diversification for the export destinations is also a reason, he added.
He stressed that India is a very important trade partner and trade enhancement with that country is essential for Bangladesh to achieve a middle-income status as envisaged in the Vision 2020.
Md. Mahbubur Rahman, Deputy Director, Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB), said that any certification issued by the BAB should be accepted in all countries while the Indian customs do not accept it. The governments should settle these issues, he opined.
Mahbubur Rahman, President, International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh (ICCB), chaired the discussion where Dr Mostafa Abid Khan, Director of Research and Policy Advocacy Programme at Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI), Dr Syed Humayun Kabir, Director General of South Asian Regional Standards Organisation (SARSO), Suhel Ahmed Choudhury, former Commerce Secretary, and Golam Md Sarwar, Assistant Director (Agriculture & Food) of BSTI, among others, put forward their opinions.