Bangladesh plans to conclude three preferential trade agreements, or PTAs, by this June unless the coronavirus-related issue causes any delay, officials say. The talks with Nepal, Bhutan, and Indonesia on the deals are almost at the final stage, they said. Bangladesh opted to sign similar deals, including free trade area, or FTA, agreements, with many other countries as part of the preparations for facing challenges when it loses trade preferences after graduation to a developing country stage by 2024. “We may lose many preferences in the developed nations after graduation. So, by signing trade deals we are getting prepared so that our export faces no setback in the post-graduation era,” commerce secretary Dr Jafar Uddin told the FE on Friday. He said the government aims to conclude at least three PTAs by June but if problems arise, some more months may be needed. “Our aim is to raise exports manifold,” he said adding the PTAs will let Bangladeshi goods enter the counterparts’ markets duty free or at low tariff. According to commerce ministry officials, the government high-ups are in favour of signing PTAs and FTAs to boost trade further. On several occasions, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Finance Ministry pushed the commerce ministry to expedite process of concluding preferential trade deals. Recently, when her directives were sought, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the commerce ministry to sign the PTA with Bhutan by granting duty and tax waiver to as many products sought by Thimphu. Officials said in the last Bangladesh-Nepal commerce secretary-level meeting held early this month in Dhaka, the two sides agreed to do sign the PTA by June next. “The Prime Minister of Bangladesh has reiterated the need for concluding a PTA with the friendly nation like Nepal,” the minutes of the meeting read. A senior commerce ministry official told the FE Nepal is a prospective destination for Bangladeshi goods and already many types of products go there. He said in Indonesia, the duty on apparel products is high. “Our target should be lowering the duty through signing the PTA,” he added. The official said Dhaka is in discussions with Jakarta on tariff preference on some 300 products. “And signing a PTA will help boost our export there significantly.” Bangladesh has yet to sign a bilateral PTA or FTA, though it is part of several multilateral trade deals. The two multilateral FTA deals include the South Asian Free Trade Area, or SAFTA, agreement and BIMSTEC FTA (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation). On the other hand, three multilateral PTA deals are: Asia Pacific Trade Agreement, APTA, TPS-OIC (Trade Preferential Scheme among the member states of the OIC), and D- 8 PTA (Developing-8 Preferential Trading Agreement). Economists advocate signing PTAs and FTAs to address the challenges when Bangladesh graduates to the next level. Vice-chairman of Export Promotion Bureau A H M Ahasan told the FE on Friday signing preferential trade deals will help boost export significantly. “We need to sign several PTAs and FTAs before graduation to take the advantage of least-developed country category during the negotiation stage,” he noted.
