No \\\'visible\\\' headway in FTA talks with six states

The government's move to sign Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with half a dozen countries has seen no visible progress till date.
According to an official at the ministry of commerce (MoC), though the government took an initiative to sign FTAs with many potential countries, there is no 'visible progress' in it.
The signing of FTA with Turkey and Sri Lanka is now at a preliminary stage. Only feasibility study and meetings could be held in this connection, he said.
The process of signing FTA is delayed due to lack of coordination among the officials of the ministry and the department concerned, he added.
Discussions on FTAs are going on with Malaysia, Nigeria, Macedonia, Mali, Turkey and Sri Lanka. But the process is going on at a snail's pace impeding the signing of the agreements, sources concerned have said.
A high official of the MoC said that the authority concerned could not take any move to sign FTA with any country quickly as there were many issues involving the signing of sued an agreement. "Feasibility study is first, after that we can take the decision on whether we will sign the deal or not. In fact, we will sign FTA with a country when it will be financially and economically more viable for our country", he added.
He admitted that the signing process of bilateral FTA with some selected countries was progressing at a slow pace. "We should gear up activities in this connection aiming to enhance our trade with the countries in near future," he said.
Bilateral FTA is a matter of negotiation between two countries. No country comes forward to sign a deal if it goes against its interest. As a result, "we are going slow in this connection," said Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, Senior Secretary of the MoC.
"He said: "We are hopeful of signing FTAs with some potential countries soon".
"We have a limited number of products to export. For this, we have to consider the country's economic interest first. Then we have to move forward for signing an FTA", an industry insider said.
He said many products might be imported after signing of an FTA. But, "if those products are produced in our country, the FTA signing will harm local industries' interest", he added.   
The aims and objectives of FTA are attaining the zero tariff facility between two signatory countries and also reducing trade barriers.
Signing of FTAs with some states may not be feasible for Bangladesh as it will cause a heavy revenue loss to the country, trade officials have said.
As for example, the import duty in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries on most of the goods is nearly 5.0 per cent while in Bangladesh it is much higher. "So, if we sign FTAs with them, we will incur significant revenue loss," an industry insider told the FE Wednesday.
"The government is sincerely working on the FTA issue. Talks on FTA with Turkey and Sri Lanka are going on. But it is still at the primary stage," Dr. Mustafa Abid Khan, Joint Chief, Bangladesh Tariff Commission (BTC), told the FE.
India has provided duty free market access for all products of least developed countries (LDCs) under SAFTA (excepting the products retained in their sensitive list). It came into effect on January 1, 2008.
The agreement on SAFTA was signed on January 6, 2004 in Islamabad. SAFTA came into being on January 1, 2006 after completion of national ratification by all member countries.
Tariff reduction under SAFTA started on July 1, 2006. The member countries of the Agreement are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
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