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Bangladesh should conduct vigorous negotiations in the next rounds of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks to avert risks of being a loser in the world trade in some vital sectors including textiles, suggested the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

The civil society think-tank observed that due to the changes in the terms of trade as a result of the upcoming WTO negotiations, Bangladesh as a least developed country may face a tough time in its export-import trade.


The sectors facing such risks are textile, leather, footwear and agro-processed products, the CPD said. On the other hand, it mentioned, the drastic reduction of farm subsidies in the developed nations may increase Bangladesh's import bill for food items.

The CPD suggested that Bangladesh and other least developed countries (LDCs) should be more careful and fully prepared for the WTO talks and take a positive and bold stance in the trade negotiations instead of a defensive position.

"If the government does not take necessary preparations at this moment, Bangladesh may come out as a loser from the next round of trade negotiations," said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, executive director of the CPD, at a press conference yesterday.


Debapriya, who led a weeklong research mission to the WTO headquarters recently, said reduction of subsidies on cotton in the US may lead to scale up of its prices and will enhance input costs for two major export items, textile and apparels, in Bangladesh.

The research mission talked to the high WTO officials including its Director General Dr Supachai Panichpakdi and discussed with the stakeholders to explore the latest progress of trade negotiations and Bangladesh's position.


The mission also prepared a set of suggestions to be presented to the government and policymakers. Launching the suggestion paper through the press conference, Dr Debapriya presented some highlights of the mission.

CPD Research Director Prof Mustafizur Rahman, Senior Research Fellow Dr Uttam Kumar Deb, Senior Research Fellow Dr Fahmida Khatun and Dr Ananya Raihan also spoke at the press conference held at the CPD office in Dhaka.

The mission observed that the negotiations in the perspective of Hong Kong ministerial conference in December this year is very important for the LDCs like Bangladesh.


Debapriya said the WTO leadership is going to be changed very soon and it will create new opportunities for the least developed nations in the trade talks.

Before the Hong Kong conference, important issues will be discussed at the general council meeting in July. The Hong Kong meet will address issues like agriculture, non-agricultural market access, service sector, rules of origin and development provisions.

The CPD suggested accelerating negotiations with the US for getting duty-free market access for overcoming the losses from massive tariff reduction.

The think-tank felt the need for a consensus among the major political parties for reaping maximum benefits from the WTO negotiations.

The CPD has planned to arrange a pre-Hong Kong Global Civil Society Forum on October 3-5 in Dhaka. It will invite Dr Supachai Panichpakdi who is leaving the WTO to join Unctad as its secretary-general, to be the keynote speaker.

The CPD observed that the LDCs should mobilise larger political support in the global arena particularly from the G-8 countries.