India has not shown any intention to provide free access to Bangladeshi products even about a month after the last round of trade talks, commerce ministry officials said yesterday.
"What is the problem if they accept our list of 25-category products? We had a very bitter experience with India regarding our lead acid battery export," Commerce Secretary Suhel Ahmed told a press briefing at the ministry conference room yesterday.
The commerce secretary refuted Indian claims that Bangladesh does not have the capacity to export items on its 25-category list to India because of its narrow export base.
"It's true that our export basket is narrow. Still, we export around US$ 3 billion to the European Union and $ 2.5 billion to the USA," he mentioned.
"We hoped that India would look at the huge trade gap it has with Bangladesh and give us a meaningful concession," the secretary added.
C K Hyder, advisor to the commerce ministry, Md Abul Kalam Azad, incharge of the International Trade Organisation, Mostafa Abid Khan, deputy chief of the Bangladesh Tariff Commission, and other officials of the ministry were present at the briefing.
"Bangladesh handed over to India a list of 25-category products in May 2000 and again, a revised list during the joint secretary level meet in December 2002. But the Indians sidestepped the new list and instead, agreed to give access to some items on the previous list."
The commerce secretary said he does not understand why India is unwilling to allow free access to 244 items under the 25-category list since it has already allowed tariff concession under SAPTA to over 2000 items.
"If they have good intention, they could have given similar facility to 244 more items," he expressed.
He however said further discussions will take place this year, but the date is yet to be fixed.
Speaking at the briefing, C K Hyder said non-tariff and para-tariff barriers are the main problems in increasing exports to India.
When Bangladesh tried to export an agricultural item, India tagged a condition that it must have chemical test report. But Nepal exports the same item without India asking for chemical reports, Hyder stated.
"This does not show good intention of the Indians," he said.
Mostafa Abid said products having high export potentials were excluded from the list. "Besides, the 16-category products as defined by India are not the same we had on our list."
Citing the experience of lead acid battery export, he said India violated the WTO rules in this case.
Md Abul Kalam Azad said the country's exports to India would increase if the non-tariff and paratariff barriers were removed.
India considers melamine products and soap as luxury items, he pointed out to showcase export barriers.
According to the ministry, the country's trade gap with India was US$150 million in fiscal 1990-91. This soared to over $1.1 billion in fiscal 2000-01.