Published in The Daily Observer on Tuesday, 3 January 2017
BD is in process to sign free trade agreement with 3 countries
Saifunnahar Sumi
Bangladesh government is in process to signing of free trade agreement (FTA) with Turkey, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, official sources said.
The government is giving priority to signing FTA with the countries which are not providing duty-free and quota-free facilities to Bangladeshi products.
Bangladesh is the only country in south Asia that has no FTA with any countries, but has bilateral agreements with 44 countries.
Signing of FTAs with the countries with which the bilateral trade is in favour of Bangladesh or it enjoys a trade surplus will not benefit the country. “We have to try signing of FTAs with the countries with those have a trade deficit, we have to think about condition, export volume, percentage of rules of origin etc,” said Prof. Mustafizur Rahman Executive Director of Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
Now FTA is not only limited to goods but also including of services which is called comprehensive economic partnership agreement, he said.
Commerce Ministry Joint Secretary Munir Chowdhury said the government has a policy guideline for FTA and efforts are on to find out countries with which FTA will benefit the country most.
“Our service sector is very potential. If we can sign FTAs on service sector it will be more beneficial,” he said adding that if an FTA is signed on ‘Mode-4’ (manpower) it will be good for the country since it has huge skilled, unskilled and semi-skilled manpower worth exporting.
“Once an FTA is signed with a country, goods from that country will enter our country without any tariff,” the joint secretary said, adding that there must be some analyses on which FTA will best serve the interests of the country.
The commerce minister has already visited Sri Lanka while a Bangladesh delegation had visited Turkey to discuss issues related to FTAs. “Political will is a big factor in signing bilateral agreements like FTAs and the present government is very positive about it,” he said.
Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Tariff Commission are the main stakeholders of any free trade deal and the government is trying to determine its stance on signing of FTAs with some countries through discussion with all the stakeholders, he added.
Chowdhury informed that remarkable progress in terms of coastal shipping and transit protocol has been made with India.
“The Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN) has come into being in recently so all these would play a very positive role in bilateral trade with India,” Munir Chowdhury said.
President of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Siddiqur Rahman said that US market is vital for Bangladesh. Signing of FTA with countries like the US and Russia will be much beneficial for Bangladesh.
FTA with countries where Bangladesh makes more exports and fewer imports will be much more beneficial, the BGMEA president said.