The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The Government has taken a hasty move to prepare product list of the country's interest within a month to negotiate duty-free and quota-free access to developed and developing countries under WTO rule.

The move was initiated as the Bangladesh Mission in Geneva recently sought strategy paper from the government for a renewed negotiation at WTO and also with the United States claiming duty free export facility to the country.

The WTO ministerial meeting in 2005 in Hong Kong ignored Bangladesh's demand for duty free access of hundred percent products of Less Developed Countries (LDCs) to the developed nations.

The developed countries, however, agreed to allow 97 percent of the LDC products in their markets duty-free and the ministerial meeting took a resolution in this regard.

Bangladesh fears that any developed country can put a main Bangladeshi export item into the remaining three percent and impose duty restriction on its entrance.

So, a fine-tuned list of the country's export items was urgent for negotiation with United States and other countries under the resolution of WTO. But the Government earlier did not initiate it.

However, a high-powered committee on WTO at the commerce ministry chaired by commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman at its sixth meeting on Thursday decided to make the priority list of Bangladeshi products within one month.

"The decision is to support Bangladesh Mission in Geneva," the Adviser told reporters after the meeting.

The committee also decided to prepare another list of products for negotiation with the willing developing countries like India, Brazil and China to offer LDCs duty-free market access as per the WTO agreement.

Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI) in association with civil society think-tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) will prepare the list for 97 percent products, while Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) will prepare the list for developing countries.

The decisions were taken to provide negotiation inputs to Bangladesh Mission in Geneva as they sought strategy paper from the government following WTO group chairmen on NAMA, Agriculture and Services circulated their revised modalities for negotiation in May this year.

The product lists will be forwarded to Geneva Mission after reviewing those at another meeting of the committee next month.

The meeting decided to form two small groups of experts on agriculture and services issues to prepare vision papers with long-term perspectives considering the changing economic situation and the impact of WTO issues.

The Adviser asked the working groups on Agriculture and Services issues to prepare a working paper with terms of reference for the expert groups and assured providing necessary resources to be required for preparing the vision papers in consultation with the stakeholders concerned.

Meanwhile, the working groups will submit their strategy paper on the two issues for negotiation in Geneva.

"Pro-active thinking is necessary regarding agriculture and services issues… they need analytical works," he told the meeting.

The Commerce Adviser told reporters after the meeting that the strategy on agriculture should be considered with a long-term vision so that Bangladesh does not suffer if it could export agriculture items in the future.

And the strategy on services' negotiation, including movement of natural person under article IV, should consider whether the measures in the WTO would affect the existing labour market of Bangladesh, he said.

Replying to a question, director general of the WTO cell in the Commerce ministry Fazlur Rahman said that earlier the working groups prepared the list of products for this purpose, but now the lists need to be revised due to the changed scenario.

Senior officials from Bangladesh Tariff Commission, EPB and other agencies concerned and representatives from private sectors including CPD, FBCCI and BGMEA were present in the meeting.