Bangladesh, in addition to negotiations at global and regional platforms, needs to gear up for signing free trade agreements (FTAs) also with neighbouring countries and blocs having trade potential, good connectivity, bilateral cooperation and strategic partnership before 2026 as part of an all-out strategy to overcome the immediate shocks after graduation from the least developed country (LDC) category, a government draft committee suggests.
Against this backdrop, a draft of the Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) policy also puts on priority list the countries which can be gateway for market access to other countries to which Bangladesh may lose preferential trading facility after the graduation. The RTAs should be beyond conventional trade pacts, covering all the trade aspects like trade in goods and services and investment, intellectual property and labour issues. Bangladesh needs to brace itself for navigating all obstacles on its way to access global and regional markets for a smooth and sustainable LDC graduation into the next trajectory of growth. Reportedly, the daft policy is now nearly at the final stage with recently held inter-ministerial and stakeholder consultations.
The draft, however, warns that Bangladesh may face challenges in negotiating FTAs with developing countries due to lack of export product diversification. Difficulties may also arise in negotiating FTAs with developed countries when questions of commitment in other areas such as trade in services, investment, government procurement and labour will arise. Hence, a policy researcher of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) suggests Bangladesh may consider partnership building with Vietnam, Thailand, small EU countries and African countries. However, compliance with labour rights, environmental issues, governance and procurement-related issues are also part of prospective trade and investment deal-making. Meanwhile, the FBCCI president at a seminar on Saturday said that Bangladesh may lose $6.38b in exports after graduation.
Policymakers stress the need for extensive groundwork for negotiating “new generation FTAs” that, in addition to goods, would include issues like trade in services, investment, labour, and government procurement to effectively engage with developing and developed countries with varied interests. For a fruitful outcome, Bangladesh has to put in place a well-coordinated and resultative institutional mechanism at home. The role of the National Task Force (under the Prime Minister’s Office) that was set up in January 2016 to monitor the implementation of the “graduation roadmap” needs to be revisited.
