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No
trade negotiation before Safta implementation
Commerce secretary tells CPD dialogue
Star Business Report
The
government will not move ahead with trade negotiations with
any party before the South Asian Free Trade Area (Safta)
gets implemented on January 1, 2006.
At present, Safta tops government's priority list and the
incoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc)
summit in Dhaka may provide further breakthrough in Safta
negotiations, scheduled to be concluded by May 31, 2005,
Commerce Secretary Md Aminur Rahman said yesterday in Dhaka.
The government will pursue bilateral, regional and
multilateral trade deals and aggressive negotiations in the
platform after implementation of Safta, he disclosed at a
dialogue on "Regionalism vs Multilateralism: What Could
Bangladesh Learn from the Global Experience" organised by
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
The government official's comment erupted a debate at the
dialogue at CIRDAP auditorium where most of the economists,
business representatives and participants recommended
pursuing aggressive negotiations on bilateral free trade
deals.
They said under Safta arrangement, Bangladesh may get full
duty free market access to India in 2013 whereas under
India-Asean partnership Myanmar, Vietnam may get the duty
free facility to India in 2010.
Even being the closest neighbour and a fellow Saarc member,
India is not ready to provide Bangladesh with duty free
market access facility before the four LDCs from Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), they said.
Chairing the dialogue, CPD Chairman Professor Rehman Sobhan
said, if Bangladesh does not continue negotiations
vigorously the country may lose out to Vietnam, Myanmar,
Laos and Cambodia, the four LDCs in Asean bloc, to get duty
free access to Indian market.
Former diplomat and President of Bangladesh Enterprise
Institute Farooq Sobhan said, "We should start immediate
diplomatic efforts to get duty free access to India."
India has signed bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with
Sri Lanka and Nepal and is negotiating with Thailand over
FTA, even though it is a participant in Safta and Bay of
Bengal Initiative for Multi-sector Technical and Economic
Cooperation (Bimstec), he added.
Bangladesh should negotiate with Saarc countries for
on-arrival visa and uniformity in standard requirements, a
major non-tariff barrier in intra-regional trade, he said.
Md Fozlul Hoque, president of Bangladesh Knitwear
Manufacturers and Exporters Association said apart from FTA
with India, the government should reach a trade arrangement
with China as the two giant economies offer huge market for
Bangladeshi goods.
"If we do not move ahead with trade negotiations with China
and India, Vietnam and Cambodia may grab the two huge
consumer markets," he said.
Former commerce minister and opposition Awami League leader
Tofail Ahmed said, the finance minister made the comment
making a U-turn on bilateral FTA with India.
"Sri Lanka and Nepal have signed bilateral FTAs with India
and they are seeing growth in export and GDP. We can see
huge export growth if we sign FTA with India," he said.
He said, Bangladesh also lacks expertise in trade
negotiations. Frequent transfers of key commerce ministry
officials in political considerations have created the
shortage of expertise, he said.
Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Choudhury said, the
government is committed to multilateral trading system and
at the same time it attaches importance to regional and
bilateral trade.
Persistent slow pace of multilateral trade negotiations has
led to proliferation in bilateral and regional free trade
agreements. Presently there are over 300 such agreements in
force or in final stage of negotiations and by the end of
2005, 55 percent of the world trade will be covered by such
preferential arrangements, he said.
Gaddam Dharmendra, counsellor (political) of Indian High
Commission in Dhaka, said it is India that insisted FTA with
Bangladesh.
Bangladesh prefers regional and multilateral trade deals
while India prefers bilateral trade deals.
Willem van der Geest, director of European Institute for
Asian Studies, Brussels, presented a paper on the arranged
dialogue.
Among others, Anne Marshal, first secretary of EU delegation
to Bangladesh, Alamgir Faruk Chowdhury, former commerce
secretary, Sayeeful Islam, president of Dhaka Chamber of
Commerce and Industry, Abu Ahmed of Dhaka University, and A
Rouf Chowdhury, director of FBCCI, spoke at the dialogue.
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