With the graduation from a least developed country (LDC) status the country will lose many benefits from trade partners, including from Japan.
For this, businesses are showing interest to sign regional and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) or Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs), and the government is considering this as the most viable alternative in the near future.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said this while speaking at a seminar on ‘The Survey on FTA / EPA Between Japan and Bangladesh’ organized by Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and Japan-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JBCCI) at Hotel Lakeshore in the capital on Sunday.
The minister said, “A sub-committee formed by the Prime Minister's Office to advise on the ways for smooth transition after graduation from LDC has submitted its draft strategy paper to the commerce ministry. It stresses the need for extensive groundwork for negotiating ‘new generation FTAs’ that in addition to goods, would include issues like trade in services, investment, labor and government procurement to effectively engage with developing and developed countries with varied interests.” “Since the current focus of Bangladesh is retaining market access to major export destinations, the report initially focuses on Canada, Japan, China, India, Republic of Korea, Australia, and Russia for identification of possible FTA partners. Among these seven countries, only China and India have expressed their interests in initiating discussions on FTA and initiatives have been taken to conduct joint feasibility studies with both these countries prior to starting negotiation,” added the minister.
Special guests at the seminar were Japanese Ambassador to Dhaka Naoki Ito, Senior Secretary at the Ministry of Commerce Tapan Kanti Ghosh and Chairman (Secretary) of the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission Mahfuzar Akhter. Jetro Dhaka country representative Yuji Ando presented the keynote papers at the seminar.
JETRO Dhaka and Japan Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JBCCI) had conducted a survey regarding Bilateral FTA/EPA between Japan and Bangladesh. The survey period was August 5 to October 14, 2021. About 300 companies participated in the survey and the overall response rate was is 43.3 percent.
According to the survey, 85 percent of respondents hope to have a bilateral FTA between Japan and Bangladesh. Because once the GSP is abolished after the LDC graduation of Bangladesh in 2026, it will be difficult for Bangladesh to differentiate competitiveness with neighboring countries like India.