DHAKA - Even as its
finance minister suggested one-way free trade with
Delhi, a Bangladesh government panel has favored a Free
Trade Agreement (FTA)with India and several neighboring
countries.
A task force on FTAs, headed by
Bangladesh Commerce Secretary Suhel Ahmed Chowdhury, to
study the new trade regime has asked the government to
negotiate with India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
simultaneously for FTAs with these countries, according
to sources in the commerce ministry.
The high
powered task force has also suggested that the India-Sri
Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ILFTA) could serve as a role
model while signing any FTA with countries in the
region, the sources said.
"All the task force
members spoke in favor of striking a FTA with India,
Lanka and Pakistan," the sources said, adding that these
countries and Nepal have formally proposed to have FTAs
with Bangladesh.
The recommendation to have a
FTA with India comes close on the heels of Finance
Minister Saifur Rahman's proposal to India that New
Delhi allow one-way free trade on an "experimental
basis" for six months. Rahman said that he had made this
proposal to his Indian counterpart Jaswant Singh during
his visit to Delhi last week.
According to him,
even if India were to open its borders to Bangladesh, it
would not be able to export much as its basket is very
limited. Bangladesh's annual export to India might be
doubled to around $200 million compared to India's
exports here exceeding $1 billion, he said.
