Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on 26 May (Wednesday) underlined that some progress had been made since agreeing to sign a bilateral FTA on 13 January 2015 but more efforts were required to sign the proposed FTA with Malaysia.
The Bangladesh Commerce Minister, reportedly, stated this while addressing a webinar on Bangladesh-Malaysia FTA organised by the BMCCI or the Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry even as he maintained that Bangladesh was working to create sustainable trade facilities by signing FTAs with different friendly countries and added that the country (Bangladesh) has been a major beneficiary of an open market economy and globalisation, and naturally, the Government will continue the practice of an open economy to encourage and facilitate businesses.
Underlining that FTAs help enhance competitive advantage, strengthen investors’ confidence, and to a large extent, build Bangladesh’s economic sustainability, Tipu Munshi said Bangladesh has longstanding diplomatic, commercial and trade relations with Malaysia while adding there
are multiple scopes to strengthen trade and commercial relations between the two countries.
We have to avail these opportunities, stated the Bangladesh Commerce Minister while adding that Bangladesh was now offering lucrative facilities for investors along with easy investment procedures and Malaysia can also avail this facility.
Meanwhile, participating in the discussions, economists, reportedly, maintained that Bangladesh’s signing of FTA with Malaysia — the proposed FTA has been on the table for 11 years and therefore, it is about time for Bangladesh to revisit the process even as the country’s impending graduation from the group of least developed countries also makes it crucial to secure such deals — should not be just for the duty free benefits on export but also for securing massive investments while also adding that the FTA’s signing should aim to develop into a comprehensive economic partnership agreement.