The government is set to finalise the draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) on National Trade Portal (NTP) next month, officials said.
In line with the move, the ministry of commerce (MoC) will sit with all the government ministries, departments, agencies and private sector on October 7 to finalise the draft MoU on NTP.
Earlier, the MoC sent the draft MoU to the stakeholders (ministries, agencies and private sector) soliciting their respective recommendations about the draft MoU on the trade portal.
They could send their recommendations by September 30.
"We will sit with the government ministries, departments, agencies and private sector on October 7 for finalising the draft MoU on NTP," director general (DG) of the World Trade Organisaiton (WTO) Cell Md Munir Chowdhury told the FE.
The MoC will sign agreements with all the ministries, departments, agencies and private sector after finalising the draft MoU, he said.
As per the agreement, they will provide their respective necessary information to the MoC to be stored in NTP.
The NTP will be prepared under the government's ongoing project involving Tk 640 million.
There will be product and market maps in the upcoming NTP.
The commerce ministry official said they already formed a committee to look into the technical matter of the planned NTP.
"Bangladesh Trade Portal" has been functioning since 2015.
But it deals with limited information about the export and import policies, tax and value added tax (VAT) structure, laws related with import and export, regulatory and compliance issue and some other information.
"The NTP will be full-fledged that will have all required information," Mr Munir said.
Foreign and local entrepreneurs could get information regarding businesses instantly from the NTP's website.
A dedicated page regarding RMG (ready made garment) will be there on the NTP.
There will also be detailed information about other prospective sectors like pharmaceuticals, plastic, information and communication technology (ICT), etc. on the full-fledged portal.
