Dhaka and Moscow are about to ink a protocol to launch an e-system to verify country-of-origin certificates by Bangladesh for its goods to Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU/EEU) under the unified tariff preference.
To this effect, sources said, Russian Federation earlier sent a draft protocol to Bangladesh mission there for negotiations on the issue.
In June 2021, the Russian Federal Customs Service sent the protocol to commerce ministry on administrative cooperation, information exchange and mutual assistance with the EAEU unified tariff preference framework.
The protocol is designed to simplify the procedure for granting preferential treatment for Bangladeshi goods by using an electronic system for verifying certificates of origin of goods.
The system will eliminate the need for participants in foreign economic activity to provide the original certificate on paper to customs authorities, according to the note verbale.
Currently, Bangladesh is included in the list of countries-users of the system under the EEU preferences.
In particular, a number of goods originating from Bangladesh are subject to a 25-per cent reduction in customs duty for import established in the common customs tariff of the EEU.
The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) is the executive body of the EEU comprising five member countries -- Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
Formed in 2015, the Eurasian Economic Union has an integrated single market of 184-million people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $1.9 trillion.
The five Eastern European countries have more than $1.5 billion annual bilateral trade with Bangladesh.
The first joint working group meeting between Bangladesh and the EEC was held in Moscow in November 2021 with intent to strengthen economic and trade ties.
The two-day meeting was held at the EEC headquarters from November 30 to December 01, according to a commerce ministry note published on its website.
On 31 May 2019, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Bangladesh and the EEC.
The first meeting was held in relation to the MoU.
According to a senior commerce ministry official, Bangladesh has already conducted a feasibility study and found that signing an FTA with the EAEU might bring positive results for boosting export and also attracting investment from EEC states.
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