The ministry of commerce will conduct a study on the possible impact on Bangladesh economy, particularly on its merchandise exports to the markets of US, Canada and Australia, for Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, a top trade official said. The study will also outline a broad action plan for preparedness to withstand any possible shock from the trade deal, signed on Monday in Atlanta, USA, among 12 nations that account for nearly 40 per cent or US$ 30 trillion of the global economy. The decision came at a meeting at the commerce ministry, with its secretary Hedayet Ullah Mamoon in the chair. Representatives from different chamber bodies and research organisations attended the meeting and expressed their views on TPP, sources said. ‘We have decided to hire a research organisation to conduct a thorough review on TPP, its outcome on our economy, and preparedness for the business sector,’ Monoj Kumar Roy, additional secretary, MoC, told New Age after the meeting. He said terms of reference would soon be finalized before assigning a reputed research firm for the job. Monoj said they were concerned with the development of TPP, but not spooked or nervous at all. Trade ministers from 12 nations—the USA, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Vietnam, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Peru and Chile—signed the largest trade-liberalising pact. The trade deal will come into effect after the signatory countries ratify the deal. Ahsan H. Mansur, executive director, Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, who attended the meeting said the TPP would not weigh on Bangladesh economy during initial two to three years, but the impact would be felt severely afterwards. Indonesia and the Philippines have been in the process to join the TPP, Mansur said, adding, ‘Bangladesh should also ready itself to become a party of the trade deal.’ ‘We have to reduce the tariff protection, bring in reforms in different trade rules, and become compliant on environment point of view to be eligible for an entry to any regional or multilateral trade deal,’ Mansur told New Age. Khandker Golam Moazzem, additional director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said Bangladesh’s export trade would be affected after implementation of the pact. The pact might take at least two years to be implemented. Vietnam, which has similar basket of products like those of Bangladesh, according to Moazzem, could emerge as a potential threat to Bangladesh’s export interest in the US market. He said Bangladesh should raise the issue of trade diversion or loss of competitiveness due to TPP in the forums like TICFA meeting and WTO ministerial conference, and seek safeguard measure to protect local industry. TPP ensures member countries strictly follow labour standards, IPR issues, governance aspects, transparent and broad-based public procurement policies and corruption-free environment as integral parts of the deal.
