Dhaka wants to conclude preferential trade agreement (PTA) with Colombo on March 4th next, now that Bangladesh begins to arm itself with trading tools for its graduation into competitive-market regime.
The specific date tentatively set well before completion of the deal-making process is preferred as it commemorates the island nation's recognition of Bangladesh after the 1971 war of independence.
Though the officials set the target in the work plan, they are sceptical whether the requisite negotiations will complete by then.
The second meeting of the PTA negotiation committee was held in Dhaka Tuesday where the text of agreement, rules of origin, and modalities of tariff concession were discussed.
And also a work plan is prepared stating which activities will be conducted next, said Noor Md Mahbubul Haq, additional secretary of FTA Wing of the ministry of commerce, who led the host side.
"We are targeting first quarter of next year (for the PTA conclusion)," he told the FE.
Mr Haq mentions that Bangladesh's relations with Sri Lanka will mark 50th anniversary next year and so Dhaka wants to conclude the deal then.
Asked whether they discussed the product list yet, he answered in the negative.
He said Sri Lanka would soon send a wish list on which products they want tariff waiver. Dhaka will discuss it in a stakeholder consultation and let Colombo know how much tariff waiver can be given on which products.
"We have provided them import-export data based on which they will prepare the list of products," he said.
On the other hand, Bangladesh Tariff Comm-ission (BTC) has been asked to prepare a list of products on which Dhaka wishes tariff waiver. The list is under preparation and no stakeholder consultation on this held so far, he added.
Dhaka and Colombo opened negotiations on PTA after Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Bangladesh in March this year.
The first meeting was held in April to chalk out plans on how to take forward the initiative and trade-negotiation committees were formed there. The first meeting of the committee was held in June.
Bangladesh signed bilateral PTA with Bhutan in December last year, 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 Free Trade Agreements Bangla-desh has signed so far are: South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement and BIMSTEC FTA (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation Free Trade Agreement).
On the other hand, three multilateral PTA deals which Bangladesh is a party to are: Asia- Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), TPS-OIC (Trade Preferential Scheme among the member-states of the OIC), and D-8 PTA (Developing-8 PTA).
syful-islam@outlook.com