Dhaka to seek duty-free market access, investments under PPP

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Nazmul Ahsan
The issues of duty-free access of some selected Bangladesh goods to China and increased Chinese investment, particularly in areas of public-private partnership (PPP), will figure prominently at the two-day meeting of the joint economic commission (JEC) of the two countries, scheduled to be held in Beijing July 28-29, sources in the Economic Relations Division (ERD) said.
This will be the 12th Bangladesh-China JEC meeting. The 11th meeting was held in Dhaka in May 2005.
The ERD, after a month-long consultation with different government agencies and private sector, has finalized a list of 39 items against which duty-free entry would be sought from the Chinese government. It has also identified nine areas under PPP and 15 priority sectors for Chinese investment and eight broad areas for Chinese grants or soft loans, sources added.
Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, Secretary, ERD, will lead a seven-member delegation at the JEC meeting.
"Trade, investment and luring Chinese investors to PPP would our three major objectives", Mosharraf told the FE Tuesday.
"We have prepared a list of items against which the duty-free market access would be sought. Once granted, it would help reduce the mounting trade gap between the two countries", he said
The items selected for zero-tariff facility are jute carpets, crabs, shoe components, leather goods, footwear, parts of footwear, footwear with outer soles of rubber, plastic and leather, G.I. pipe, bicycles, baby carriages and parts thereof, jute spindles, footwear (sports), whole hides and skins (dried), raw hides and skin, woven fabrics of jute (unbleached and other), articles of yarn, stripes, bed Linen, table linen, toilet linen and kitchen linen, printed materials, hand gloves, plastic hanger, P.V.C. bag, re-cycled plastic, herbal plant, sweet potato, animal casing, red jaw, halibut, tongue sole, chub mackerel (Somber australasicus), yellow croaker (Otolithoides pama), silver prom pet ( Pampulks argenteus), cuttle fish, ribbon fish.
Currently, trade is heavily tilted to China as Bangladesh exported worth $106.95 million to that country against its import worth $ 3.50 billion in 2007-2008.
The major export items from Bangladesh to China include raw jute, leather, shrimps, woven garments, camera parts, copper wire, plastic waste and engineering products.
The exports from China to Bangladeshi market include cotton yarn, fabrics, machinery and mechanical and electrical appliances and equipment, sound recorders and televisions.
Dhaka, according to sources, will welcome Chinese investment in nine major areas under the PPP initiatives. The areas are-power and energy, transport infrastructure, water and sewerage, information and communication technology, air transport and tourism, industries, education and research, health and family welfare and housing.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith will hold a meeting with Bangladesh delegation members today (Wednesday) at the finance ministry to guide and brief them further on the PPP, ahead of their journey to China, sources said.
'He (Muhith) attaches maximum importance to attracting Chinese investment under the PPP during our visit to China,' a high official in the Finance ministry, who has been included in the delegation to China, told the FE.