Govt forms committee to set up free trade zone

The government has formed a national committee to establish a Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in the country, aligning with the growing global trend of trade liberalisation and investment facilitation, reports BSS.

The committee was formed on April 21 to look into the issues of establishing such an FTZ within a year, said a press release.

Representatives from Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA), Ministry of Commerce, Economic Relation Division (ERD), Ministry of Industries, National Board of Revenue (NBR), Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) were included in the committee.

The first meeting of the committee is scheduled to be held on May 6 with Executive Chairman of BIDA and BEZA Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun in the chair.

The committee is tasked with reviewing existing laws-such as the Bangladesh Economic Zones Act, the Customs Act and import-export regulations-and recommending necessary amendments or the formulation of new laws, rules and guidelines conducive to the establishment of FTZ.