BD plans to complete talks thru virtual meetings

REZAUL KARIM | Published: June 27, 2020 20:33:59

The government of Bangladesh has planned to complete discussions on signing of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) with Indonesia and Nepal through virtual meetings shortly, sources said.
Most recently, Bangladesh and Bhutan have agreed to sign PTA through a daylong videoconferencing by August 30, 2020.
The signing of two key preferential trade agreements with the biggest economy of Asia, Indonesia, and Himalayan nation, Nepal, has been postponed due to the spread of coronavirus pandemic, people familiar with the process said on Wednesday last.
"We have postponed the signing of PTAs as Bangladesh and Indonesia have been hit by the pandemic while Nepal has a low rate of coronavirus infections," a high official of the commerce ministry told the FE.
The government is now planning to conclude the required process of signing the agreements through a virtual platform, he added.
"We will hold talks with our counterparts in this regard as early as possible," the official also said. It was supposed to sign the agreements with the two countries by the second quarter of this calendar year, he mentioned.
The ministry will send proposals to the two countries in this regard after taking consent from the commerce secretary.
When contacted, additional secretary of the ministry Sharifa Khan said, "We will put forward a proposal to Nepal for virtual meeting to finalise signing documents of PTA. Similarly, we will put forward the same proposal to Indonesia."
She hopes that it will take two or three virtual meetings to sign the deals as all required texts in this regard are almost ready.
She, however, said, "We will be able to sign deals through one meeting if we can finalise the list of products before online meetings. We are working continuously in this regard."
Indonesia has sought tariff preference on export of its 310 products to Bangladesh under the proposed PTA, she said, adding that Dhaka is in talks on tariff preference on some 312 products to the Indonesian market.
Last year, two meetings were held with Indonesia. The third meeting was supposed to take place in March, 2020 that was delayed due to the spread of coronavirus pandemic.
On the other hand, main text on signing of PTA has already been agreed between Bangladesh and Nepal.
Nepal submitted its list of 34 products while Bangladesh also submitted its list of over 74/90 products for tariff preference. But both the two countries want to start PTA signing through 20/30 products, the additional secretary mentioned.
In this regard, the commerce ministry has already asked the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) to prepare a list of priority products for signing PTA with Nepal, according to the commerce ministry.
Officials said in the last Bangladesh-Nepal commerce secretary-level meeting held early March in Dhaka, the two sides agreed to sign PTA by this June.
"Bangladeshi export will increase significantly after signing preferential trade deal. We need to sign several PTAs and FTAs before graduation to take advantage of least-developed country category," an official said.
Experts said signing of PTAs and FTAs will be helpful to address the challenges when Bangladesh graduates to next level.
Bangladesh exported goods worth only US$55 million and over US$ 38 million in Indonesia and Nepal in the fiscal year 2018-19 respectively.
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