REFAYET ULLAH MIRDHA

Bangladesh and Japan have primarily agreed on signing a free trade agreement (FTA) to increase trade and investment, said Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi yesterday.

“Bangladesh and Japan are positive on signing an FTA,” he told The Daily Star over the phone. The minister is scheduled to declare a joint statement on the signing at a meeting at the ministry today.

This is the first formal meeting for signing the FTA as both sides think it is possible to sign a win-win deal, said the minister, adding that no specific date has been set for the signing.

“We are still in a primary stage until now for signing the FTA…Our team has been working with the Japanese team for advancing the negotiation,” Munshi said.

Bangladesh has been negotiating with several trade partners to sign FTAs, preferential trade agreements (PTAs), comprehensive economic partnership agreements (CEPAs) and Comprehensive economic trade partnership agreements (CETAs).

These are mainly aimed at retaining Bangladesh’s preferential trade benefits once it makes the United Nations status graduation from a least developed to a developing nation in 2026.

Retaining the preferential trade benefits is important because of the country’s total export of more than $52 billion last year, more than 73 per cent was induced by the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP).