Strengthen capacity to participate in effective international trade negotiation: Speakers

To maximise the use of trade agreements to achieve development outcomes, there is an ardent need to strengthen the capacities of Bangladesh to participate effectively in multilateral, regional and bilateral trade negotiations where the government agencies, political parties, private sector, academia, key policymakers, including parliamentarians must have to involve in. Otherwise, trade negotiation will become either impossible or implementation of the outcome of it will not be possible.

Speakers at a virtual webinar exchanged these views on Sunday, according to a press release. 

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) organised the webinar on ‘International Trade Negotiations: Bangladesh perspective, where Fazle Kabir, Governor, Bangladesh Bank, attended as chief guest.

Md Afzal Hossain, secretary to the government and chairman of Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, joined the webinar as a special guest.

Bangladesh has been pursuing some BIMSTEC, APTA, and few bilateral FTAs through which it is stressing on creating better market access for goods, particularly duty-free & quota-free market access, preferential market access in services where Bangladesh has much potentials, elimination of non-tariff barriers (NTBs), the speakers said.

Md Shahadat Hossain, president of ICAB, delivered the address of welcome while Shubhashish Bose, chief executive officer of ICAB and former senior secretary, Ministry of Commerce, presented the keynote paper in the webinar.