Commerce minister Tofail Ahmed on Thursday criticised the Centre for Policy Dialogue a day after the CPD termed the outcome of the 10th ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation frustrating for Bangladesh and other least developed countries. At a press briefing, Tofail claimed that the CPD did not see any success of Bangladesh in the conference though all the members of WTO praised the country for its development. The commerce minister arranged the briefing to reply the statement of the CPD made on Wednesday on the outcome of the conference. The private think tank had said that the least developed countries including Bangladesh did not get any additional benefits, except flexibility on preferential rules of origin, from the conference held at Nairobi in Kenya on December 15-18 as there was no development on duty-free and quota-free market access, aid for trade and preferential waiver on trade of services. Tofail said the LDCs got exemption for 17 years from implementing intellectual property rights on pharmaceuticals products. The conference also relaxed the condition of rules of origin for LDCs in export of goods. ‘Is this not our achievement?’ he questioned. The commerce minister said that Bangladesh also received waiver in the services sector which is another achievement. ‘But the CPD has not seen any of those achievements. Everyone at the conference praised Bangladesh but the CPD could not see anything,’ he said. Tofail said, ‘Debarpirya Bhattacharya [Distinguished Fellow of CPD] was in Geneva as Bangladesh representative. What did he do? What did he earn? But now our representatives Shamim Ahsan and Mostafa Abid Khan are doing fine works.’ The minister asked why CPD did not utter the name of United States although the country was not giving Bangladesh duty free access. The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Abul Matlub Ahmed, International Chambers of Commerce president Mahbubur Rahman and Secretary General of Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries secretary general Abdul Muktadir, among others, were present at the briefing.
