Bangladesh and Eurasian countries are close to establish a common market to work jointly for developing a trade and economic bloc, officials said.
Establishment of the proposed common market will be a milestone in development of Bangladesh and Eurasian countries and it will create new opportunities for businesses operating in the region, they said.
The move will reduce trade barriers and ease investment as well as free flow of goods, services, investment and skilled labour if it gets final shape, they mentioned.
A common market is featured with a lot of harmonised policies like common currency, same taxation policy and free movement of people.
As part of the move, the Bangladesh embassy in Russia has recently sent a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in trade and economic relations between Bangladesh and the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC).
The Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation are under the EEC.
Economic Relations Division (ERD) under the Ministry of Finance has already asked the ministries concerned to send opinions on MoU between Bangladesh and EEC, an ERD source said.
Negotiation is going on about building a common market between Bangladesh and Eurasian countries. Final decision in this regard has not been taken yet, Senior Assistant Chief of Europe Wing-04 Rahnuma Nahid told the FE on Monday.
However, experts find it difficult to implement the move. European Union-style economic integration will be difficult to achieve, they added.
Bangladesh, a member of WTO, is negotiating a series of bilateral, regional and trans-regional trade pacts with the member countries of EEC, a commerce ministry official said.
It is easier to move merchandise internationally and employment will increase many times, he said.
There is no specific export data on EEC countries. The volume of export of Bangladesh's ready-made garment (RMG) to Russia and EEC is not significant. Shrimp is exported to Russia.
The export earnings were US$ 139.55 million in the fiscal year (FY) 2013. RMG export to Russia in the FY'14 fetched US$ 207.74 million with 21.15 per cent growth.
The export earnings of ready-made garment from Russia in the first quarter of FY 201415 amounted to US$ 35.73 million which was 11.84 per cent higher than US$ 31.95 million of the same period in the previous fiscal year, according to BKMEA data.
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