State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said Bangladesh is committed to doing everything necessary to implement FTAs with BIMSTEC countries. He said this while speaking as the chief guest at the Bay of Bengal Economic Dialogue on Friday (11 March).
In the virtually organised dialogue, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs said that another fundamental area of cooperation between BIMSTEC member countries and the most essential element of regional integration is the implementation of free trade – FTA. Although the FTA Framework Agreement was signed in 2004, however, it could not be implemented due to the lack of final progress on legal materials in 6 sectors.
He said that two documents important to the implementation of the FTAs are in the final stages. These two documents are very essential for launching FTAs. Once this is done, duty-free trade between member states can begin. As a major trading and investment country under BIMSTEC, Bangladesh is pursuing other necessary agreements and memorandums of understanding under FTA such as Customs Cooperation Agreement, Agreement on Trade in Services, Agreement on Trade Facilitation. This requires the sincere support of all member states. Bangladesh is fully committed to doing everything possible to implement the FTAs.
Discussions are underway to launch a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the countries bordering the Bay of Bengal. A structural agreement was signed in 2004 to build the BIMSTEC Free Trade Area.
