China opens market to Bangladeshi products from Dec

Bangladeshi exports will enjoy zero-tariff treatment under cent-percent tariff lines in China from December 01, which is likely to contribute to narrowing a yawning trade gap against Dhaka.

Bangladesh will enjoy this zero-tariff treatment for 100-percent tariff lines as an LDC or least-developed country, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka said, adding that the Office of the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council of China recently issued an announcement to this effect.

Presently, Bangladesh is getting duty-free market-access facility for 97 per cent of its tariff lines.

"On 5 September 2024, in his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, President Xi Jinping of China announced that China will voluntarily and unilaterally open its market wider, and has decided to give all LDCs having diplomatic relations with China, including 33 countries in Africa, zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines," the spokesperson said narrating the background of the decision.

This has made China first major developing country and first major economy to take such a step.

In order to expand unilateral opening up to LDCs and achieve common development, zero preferential tariff rate will be applied to 100 percent of the tariff lines originating from LDCs that have diplomatic relations with China from 1 December 2024, the announcement said.

For the products subject to tariff quota management, zero-tariff treatment only applies to the portion of products within the quota quantity. The portion of products exceeding the quota quantity shall still be subject to the original tax rate.

Bangladesh's exports to China amount to around US$1.0 billion while China's exports come to somewhere near $20 billion as China has many development projects here and huge industrial raw materials as well as consumer goods are also imported by Bangladesh from the world's second-largest economy.

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