Nazmul Ahsan

Bangladesh will sign a major regional deal in December in an effort to boost its trade with fast booming economies of China, South Korea and three other nations, officials said Sunday.

The three countries and India, Sri Lanka and Laos are the member of the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) signed in a low-key manner in November 2005 and came into effect from July 1 2006.

The six countries would now hold a ministerial meeting in South Korean capital Seoul on December 15 and sign a ground-breaking Framework Agreements on Trade Facilitation (AFT) during the meet, officials told the FE.

Commerce ministry officials said the APTA Standing Committee, comprising trade diplomats of member countries in its latest round of negotiations finalised the draft deal in Bangkok.

"The agreement will be a major boost to our trade as it will pave the way for increased market access to China, the world's third largest economy, and South Korea, the third largest Asian economy," an official said.

"It will also benefit us in the areas of enhancing capacity in trade, modernising customs department and containing cross-border smuggling," the official who has seen the draft framework agreements said.

Commerce Minister Faruk Khan will attend the Ministerial Council as the head of Bangladesh delegation.

The APTA was formerly known as Bangkok Agreement, with officials holding infrequent

meetings to discuss trade and economic ties among the six Asian nations.

Presently, trade of more than 4,000 items originating from APTA member countries including those from Bangladesh enjoys tariff concessions under the deal.

Particularly, South Korea and China have granted duty free market access to 139 and 83 Bangladeshi products under the APTA. It is expected that the new deal would lead to further tariff cuts.

In the proposed new agreement, the six countries would also enhance cooperation in 10 major areas including market access and speedy release of goods from the ports.

In addition, it would cover other key areas such as harmonisation of HS Codes, handling foreign passengers in airports, and exchange of best practices to contain customs corruption.

"The proposed agreement for the first time will strengthen trade related capacity both for Bangladeshi officials and departments involved in trade facilitation,' the commerce ministry said.

"Technical cooperation in formulating country's export-import policies is also on the list of cooperation finalised in the trade facilitation agreements," he said.

Trade experts said the trade related expertise among Chinese and Korean officials have increased to global standard, where Bangladesh still lags behind most of Asian nations.

The two countries could also become big markets for Bangladeshi goods, as the country's manufacturers look for alternative destinations in the wake of the worst recession in the West.

"The framework agreements can play crucial role in transferring best trade practices and know how to Bangladesh," the official said,

He added the ministry of commerce and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) would be enormously benefited by the proposed deal.