Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Tuesday said the government will sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with Sri Lanka to boost bilateral trade. “Besides, Bangladesh Biman will introduce direct flights to the South Asian countries to enhance connectivity,” Tofail said while talking to reporters after a meeting with the newly appointed Sri Lankan high commissioner in Dhaka Yasoja Gunasekera at his office. “All is set to sign the FTA with Sri Lanka. There have been some issues in regards to Bangladesh-Sri Lanka trade. So, we proposed to bring down the rate of duty from 13 percent to 5 percent. We have also identified some trade barriers and discussions are underway to resolve these issues,” said the minister. Tofail said connectivity is the most essential tool to boost cross-border trade. There are flights to Dhaka from Sri Lanka everyday. “From now, Bangladesh will also establish better connectivity with Sri Lanka both in water and airways,” he said. He said there is a huge demand of Bangladeshi Pharmaceutical products and fish in the Sri Lankan market, adding, “Both the countries agreed to remove the existing trade barriers between the two countries.” Tofail informed that Bangladesh’s exports to Sri Lanka stood at $26.80 million against the imports of $66.65 million last fiscal. “The trade gap is around $39.84 million. If the barriers to exports are removed, the trade gap between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka could be reduced,” said the commerce minister. He alleged that a vested quarter has been trying to hinder the country’s economic progress. “Conspiracy is being hatched against the country by carrying out bomb attack and killing foreigners. They are trying to cause harm to the country’s economy in a planned way, but we won’t let them to do so,” Tofail said. In replay to a query, he said the criminals are being arrested and the motive behind the murders will be disclosed. Tofail said, “The murder of foreigners is a stray incident, and such occurrence take place in many countries and necessarily don’t trigger any alert.” Replying to another question, the commerce minister alleged, “Transparency International (TIB) is turning into a political organisation, it’s a wing of BNP. Otherwise, how it can claim that ‘the solution to all the problems is election’. They are a research organisation—their duty is to conduct research. Why they make political statement is hard to understand.” Tofail said the information TIB has produced about the quorum crisis of the Parliament is untrue, arguing that there was quorum crisis when BNP was in the opposition, not now. He also firmly said there is no chance of holding election before schedule. Tofail further said TIB never praised Bangladesh about any development. “I have never heard them making any laudable comments.” Talking to the press, the Sri Lanka envoy said they had discussed about more Lankan investment in Bangladesh.
