BD to seek immediate approval for trade negotiations outcome

Bangladesh plans to press for immediate ministerial council approval for outcome of the fourth-round negotiations at the APTA (Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement) standing committee meeting in Bangkok this week.
Officials said the approval would yield marginal tariff preferences to nearly 10,000 products in the markets of APTA member-states.
Presently, under the third round of negotiations, 4,290 products are entitled to get the tariff preference.
Bangladesh, China, India, Lao PDR, the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Mongolia are members of the Asia-Pacific trade bloc.
A five-member Bangladesh delegation, led by a joint secretary of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC), will attend the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)-sponsored meeting in the Thai capital.    
"After the fourth-round negotiations were over in 2013, some of the member-countries, including Republic of Korea and China, have come with fresh proposals and want to hold talks again. This is holding back the ministerial approval for the outcome of fourth-round negotiations for years," a senior MoC official told the FE.
He said, "We will ask member-states who want further negotiations to hold it in fifth round."
The official said during the meeting, the formation of working group for signing separate deals among the member-states regarding three framework agreements--on trade facilitation, trade in services, and investments--will also be discussed.   
The fourth round of negotiations, which concluded during the 44th Standing Committee meeting in July 2014, went beyond the traditional tariff concessions aimed at further deepening of trade cooperation and integration, he said.
In the fourth round of negotiations, Bangladesh agreed to provide tariff concession for 600 products, India 3,000, and China 2,000 products.
However, despite the conclusion of fourth-round negotiations in 2013, most of the member-states have yet to finish internal processes like taking approval from their cabinet. Bangladesh had taken cabinet approval regarding the proposed tariff concession once, but needs further approval, said another official.   
According to officials, the APTA offers simple, common Rules of Origin (RoO) with minimum local value-addition requirement of 45 per cent of the freight-on-board (FOB) value. The least developed-country members of the bloc require 35 per cent value addition to enjoy the tariff preferences.
The fourth round of negotiations, concluded in 2013, widened the coverage of preferences of total tariff lines for each member-state and deepened the total tariff concessions by at least 29 per cent of the total intra-regional trade under the APTA.
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