Negotiations on the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Bangladesh and India, its second-largest trading partner are anticipated to begin this year, and more likely by June of next year, officials have informed.
The free-trade agreement (FTA) that India negotiated with several trading partners, including South Korea and the United Arab Emirates, while also talking with several other nations, is regarded as an advanced level of the CEPA.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry of Bangladesh has already shared trade statistics of the country to facilitate negotiations as discussed in the 15th meeting of the Joint Working Group on Trade held on 26-27 September 2023 in Dhaka.
India is also supposed to share such data as soon as possible, according to an official who deals with the issue.
“We earlier sat for several meetings including an inter-ministerial one with different ministries, including labour, commerce and home affairs, along with senior officials of different state agencies and the trade bodies,” officials have added.
At the foreign-office consultation between the two countries held in New Delhi late last year, Bangladesh and India agreed to wrap up negotiations on a much-vaunted comprehensive partnership forum by 2026.
A senior official of the ministry said, “We hope to start negotiations within the next couple of months.” The Indian side is, however, taking preparation in this regard, he added.
The trade ministers had decided to work together to carry up a feasibility study for signing the CEPA in the same year.
Bangladesh is classified as a least developed nation (LDC) and is therefore eligible for duty-and-quota-free (DFQF) market access to India for all but 25 of its tobacco and alcohol products. After Bangladesh becomes a developing country in 2026, it will no longer have access to the DFQF facilities in India.
The negotiation on signing the CEPA with India is a part of the Government’s initiatives to sign deals with major trading partners to retain the DFQF facility after Bangladesh’s graduation from the LDC status to a developing nation, experts said. Signing the CEPA could offset the impacts of potential challenges to emerge after the graduation, they added.
