Bangladesh is likely to ratify the Developing Eight (D-8) Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), to boost export, sources said.
The treaty is expected to accelerate intra-country trade of D-8 member-states to 15-20 per cent of their global trade or about $500 billion by the end of 2018.
But a member-country of D-8 must make 40 per cent value addition as per the Rules of Origin of the products if it likes to export products to other members of the bloc.
Bangladesh, although, unofficially approached some influential members of D-8 to allow it (as a member of LDCs) for conditional ratification of PTA.
But there is less possibility of conditional ratification as Bangladesh did not get any positive response from any member county, sources said.
However, the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has decided to sit with the stakeholders to take a decision on the issue, they added.
Earlier the MoC sat with different trade bodies and received opinions from them regarding the ratification of D-8 PTA.
“As a least developed country (LDC), Bangladesh is entitled to get special and preferential treatment from other member-countries of the group. But due to some complications, we are not getting the facility,” a high official of the MoC told The New Nation preferring anonymity.
Bangladesh is a member of D-8 but not yet a party to D-8 PTA, as the country has not still ratified the agreement.
The D-8 PTA came into force for Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey recently and the countries are getting benefit from it.
Eight leading Islamic countries with similar development levels, including Turkey, founded the Developing Eight (D-8) organisation in 1997 to improve their trade position in the world economy.
It aims also new opportunities in trade relations to become more influential in international decision-making mechanisms and to raise living standards.
The group comprises Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nigeria.
One of the main objectives of the D-8 is to enhance intra-country trade among them.
The D-8 discussed the PTA and the attached protocol of the Rules of Origin in its previous meetings.
The volume of trade among D-8 countries reached nearly $122 billion in 2014 from $15 billion when the organisation was established, increasing eight per cent since its inception.
The D-8 countries’ export volume with rest of the world rose by nearly three per cent and reached $1.7 trillion during the same period.
“We are going to arrange a meeting with stakeholders on D-8 Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) soon to take a decision as to whether Bangladesh will ratify PTA,” an Additional Secretary of MoC said.
“We are hopeful of getting positive response from the stakeholders in this regard. If all the parties respond positively, then we will soon submit the report to highest authority in favour of PTA,” he informed
