Sri Lanka has requested Bangladesh to resume negotiations to sign a proposed preferential trade agreement (PTA) by April with an eye to boosting bilateral trade between the two friendly countries.
As part of the move, the Lankan High Commission in Dhaka has proposed to hold a virtual meeting on April 24 to discuss the current status and way forward.
The mission has also requested Dhaka to inform its concurrence on the proposed date soon.
“We have received a note verbale from the Sri Lankan High Commission in Dhaka. We’re working on the issue,” according to an official concerned.
“But we are not in favour of resuming negotiations on April 24 as proposed by Colombo. It is supposed to defer the date as it’s an Eid-ul-Fitr holiday.”
The PTA negotiations between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are expected to resume on April 27 or in the first week of May, stated the official.
Earlier, primary negotiations on the proposed deal were postponed due to months of political turmoil there, according to him.
Commerce ministry formed a high-powered trade negotiation committee (TNC) to take steps to this end.
Additional secretary (FTA) of the ministry was named the chief negotiator of the committee.
The 12-member committee is working in coordination with the Sri Lankan side to carry forward the negotiations.
Under the proposed deal, both governments have already exchanged request lists of products as Bangladesh earlier sent a list of more than 100 products.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka sent a list of 112 items, seeking duty-free access to Bangladesh market.
Meanwhile, economists have advocated signing PTAs and FTAs (free trade agreements) with different countries to address the challenges when Bangladesh graduates to the next level.
They said preferential trade deals would help Bangladesh boost exports significantly.
Another commerce ministry high official said, “We need to sign several PTAs and FTAs before (Bangladesh’s) graduation to reap the benefits of the least-developed country category…”
After its graduation, he added, Bangladesh would lose various tariff-related facilities that it now enjoys as a least-developed country (LDC).
Earlier in 2017, both Dhaka and Colombo completed necessary preparations to sign an FTA, but the move did not see the light of day for internal issues.
“We’re now trying to start talks with two dozen countries, including the US and Canada, for signing PTAs to help boost the country’s export earnings,” said an FTA wing official of the ministry.
Currently, priority is being given to sign PTAs, the official said, adding: “(The signing of an) FTA deal is very difficult.”
Some issues, including revenue losses, have been involved with FTAs as all products of both the countries under FTAs enjoy duty-free facility.
In March 2021, Bangladesh and Sri Lank signed 06 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to increase bilateral cooperation between the two nations.
Bangladesh signed a PTA with Bhutan on 06 December 2020, the first of its kind since the country’s independence back in 1971.
However, the country is a member of several multilateral trade blocs.
The two multilateral FTAs that Bangladesh has so far signed are the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement and the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) FTA.
On the other hand, three multilateral PTA deals that Bangladesh is a party to are the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), TPS-OIC (Trade Preferential Scheme-OIC) and D-8 (Developing-8) PTA.
