Business
Integrated plan needed before signing trade pacts
By Staff Reporter
Wed, 27 Jun 2007, 12:47:00

Speakers at a seminar yesterday suggested the government to have an integrated plan before signing regional or bilateral trade pacts, for a number of previous agreements borne insignificant benefit.

They stressed that Bilateral Trade Arrangements (BTAs) might be easier and more fruitful than Regional Trade Arrangements (RTAs).

Development Research Network (D.Net) organised the seminar on "Regional Trading Arrangements: Opportunities and Pitfalls for Bangladesh" CIRDAP auditorium in the city.

Deputy Chief of Bangladesh Tariff Commission Dr. Mostafa Abid Khan presented the keynote paper of the seminar chaired by leading trade specialist Professor Mustafizur Rahman who is also the Research Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

Former Commerce Secretary Shohel Ahmed Chowdhury, Executive Director of ERG Dr Sajjad Zohir, Dr. Narayan Chandra Nath, FBCCI Advisor Manjur Ahmed, Dr Naznin Ahmed, Nazrul Haq Mojumder, Dr SM Ahsan Habib and AKM Masud Ali addressed the function among others.

Former Commerce secretary Dr Shohel Ahmed Chowdhury stressed on capacity building of the government employees and business leaders for trade negotiation with other countries.

He narrated his job-time experiences and said that frequent transfer of experienced and knowledgeable government officials paralyses its expertise resulting in deficiency in trade talks with other countries.

He suggested the government and think tanks not to remain preoccupied with SAFTA and be proactive for bilateral deals with ASEAN countries.

Dr Mustafizur Rahman said, "Poverty alleviation, employment generation and overall uplift should be the major focus of trade. The benefit of market access should be transmitted into poverty reduction with complementary mechanism."

He stressed on export diversification and, for export items, suggested to think beyond goods. "What kind of market access can be ensured in the service sector should be explored," he said adding "Transport, communication, infrastructure services should be comprehensively integrated into the trade pacts."

"Bangladesh should formulate its future direction on RTAs taking into account the possible changes in international trade environment," the keynote speaker Dr Mostafa Abid Khan suggested.

He said, "A thorough study should be conducted for determining the rules of criteria, which the manufacturing sector of Bangladesh can comply with."

The speakers said that in identifying the sensitive sectors, consumer benefits and overall economic gains should also be taken into account. It is also necessary to find out a match between the sensitivity and export opportunity.

They said that unless Bangladesh diversifies its export base it cannot fully maximize the benefits offered by the RTAs.

Country Representative of OXFUM-GB Bangladesh Anil P. Tamby elaborated the background and objective of the seminar when Executive Director of D.Net Dr Ananya Raihan delivered the welcome address.



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