Beef up negotiation capacity for trade deals

In order to maximise the use of trade agreements to achieve development outcomes, there is an ardent need to strengthen Bangladesh's capacity to effectively participate in multilateral, regional and bilateral trade negotiations, according to speakers at a webinar.

This is where government agencies, political parties, the private sector, academia, and key policymakers, including parliamentarians, must be involved, they said.

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Otherwise, trade negotiations will either become impossible or implementation of the outcome will not be possible, they added.

These comments came at a webinar on "International Trade Negotiations: Bangladesh perspective", organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) yesterday.

Bangladesh has been pursuing some BIMSTEC, APTA, and a few bilateral free trade agreements, focusing on the need for creating better market access for goods, particularly duty-free, quota-free, and preferential market access in services where the country has potential.

In addition, the elimination of non-tariff barriers is needed, they said.

"Bangladesh is currently pursuing some regional trade agreement negotiations like BIMSTEC, APTA, and bilateral free-trade agreements too," said ICAB President Shahadat Hossain.

He went on to say that there is an ardent need to strengthen the capacities of developing countries, including Bangladesh, to effectively participate in multilateral, regional and bilateral trade negotiations and maximise the use of trade agreements to achieve development outcomes.

Shubhashish Bose, chief executive officer of ICAB and former senior secretary of the commerce ministry, presented the keynote paper in the webinar.

He said Bangladesh has been trying to achieve better market access in other countries through tariff reductions, such as DFQF and removal of non-tariff barriers.

Fazle Kabir, governor of the Bangladesh Bank, and Afzal Hossain, chairman of the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, also spoke at the webinar.

Zaidi Sattar, chairman of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, Noor Md Mahbubul Haq, additional secretary of the commerce ministry's FTA Wing, and NKA Mobin, vice-president of ICAB, were also in attendance.