Bangladesh is eager to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) and a coastal shipping deal with Sri Lanka and wants these to be finalised during the visit of the president of the island nation by the end of this year, officials said. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is learnt to have asked the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) and the Bangladesh High Commission in Colombo to complete all the required steps to this regard, they added. The directive came when newly appointed Bangladesh High Commissioner to Sri Lanka M Riaz Hamidullah met the Prime Minister before he left Dhaka for Colombo in July last. “I should mention that during my courtesy call on with the Prime Minister at the PMO, she categorically stressed early finalisation of both the free trade and the coastal shipping agreements,” Mr Hamidullah wrote in a recent letter to shipping secretary Ashoke Madhab Roy. “The PM further underlined the need for finalising the agreements by the time the Sri Lankan President pays the official visit to Dhaka by end of 2016. She clearly desires to have all the steps and texts completed and negotiated over the next new months,” he wrote. In April 2014, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had agreed to sign a coastal shipping agreement aiming to boost bilateral trade and investment between the two countries. The two countries also agreed to form a Joint Study Group (JSG) comprising five members from each country to push forward the move. Sources said a draft of the coastal shipping agreement and the standard operating procedure (SOP) was prepared and exchanged between the two countries. The high commission officials are now working with the Sri Lankan side so that they could expedite their views/opinions on the draft agreement and its SOP. Since January this year, the Sri Lankan side has been asking the high commission to firm up the dates for the next shipping secretary level talks in Dhaka. The last meeting was held in Colombo. When contacted, a senior MoS official told the FE Wednesday the ministry has been working to finalise the draft of the coastal shipping agreement. He said the bilateral shipping secretary-level meeting may take place in October where the drafts of the SOP and the agreement will be discussed. A senior official at the ministry of commerce (MoC) told the FE the issue of signing a FTA with Sri Lanka was discussed at a recent meeting at the ministry of foreign affairs. He said the Bangladesh Tariff Commission (BTC) had studied pros and cons of signing the long-term bilateral deal but found it not beneficial for the country. Based on the study report, the MoC was not in favour of signing the FTA deal “However, we have asked the BTC for conducting further study. We will take a decision after getting the new report.” The official said interests of various groups are involved with the FTA. Specially, the interest of local industry is a major concern for FTA signing. “We have to take into consideration interests of all quarters before going for the deal.” The bilateral trade between the two countries is in favour of Sri Lanka. In fiscal year 2014-15, Bangladesh exported goods worth US$26.8 million to Sri Lanka while it imported goods worth $66.65 million from the island nation. Bangladesh mainly exports woven garments, knitwear, home textile, agri-products, frozen food, leather and leather goods, footwear, raw jute, jute goods, and bicycle to Sri Lanka. The major imports from the country include live animals, animal products, vegetable products, animal or vegetable fats and oils, prepared foodstuffs, mineral products, and plastics and rubber articles.
