Commerce minister GM Quader on Tuesday ruled out any political ploy behind signing of the Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA) and declaration of the election schedule on the same day. “TICFA is a simple bilateral agreement to facilitate trade between the USA and Bangladesh. We signed the pact to protect and foster our country’s business interest and politics should not be dragged into the matter,” Quader told reporters during a briefing on the bilateral trade agreement, which was signed on Monday.
Commerce secretary Mahbub Ahmed and Acting Deputy US Trade Represen-tative Wendy Cutler signed the deal in Washington on behalf of their respective governments.
The minister said the agreement will enable the two countries to establish a bilateral forum to discuss investment opportunities, areas of mutual interests in trade and business bottlenecks.
Quader clarified that the government had not done anything illegal in signing such a politically potential agreement, especially after announcement of the election schedule. “The signing of the pact just ahead of the national election has raised confusion whether it was politically motivated. But that is not the case. It’s a mere coincidence that it came on the same day as the election programme,” he said.
The minister said talks over TICFA officially began in 2002, but the cabinet gave its approval only on June 17 this year. The agreement was not signed due to bureaucratic tangles. “TICFA could have been signed much earlier. It was postponed because of the foreign ministry dilly dallying over the issue. I had written to them several times to expedite the process, but only they know the reason behind the delay in taking a decision,” he added.
Quader also said that the agreement would not harm Bangladesh’s interests or sovereignty. “The agreement will give us an open and predictable environment for trade and investment with the USA,” he said, adding: “We are quite capable of negotiating and bargaining over contentious issues. Moreover, we will only discuss issues that have mutual agreement.”
The facilities Bangladesh enjoys as a member of the WTO or other such groupings will not be compromised, the minister said, adding that any side could pull out of the pact by serving a 180-day notice. He pointed out that the USA had so far signed 92 such agreements with other countries and regional associations.
The minister said the forum’s first meeting was supposed to have been held on the day the agreement was signed, but it didn’t take place due to time constraint. “The first meeting will be hopefully held in Dhaka in January. At that meeting, Bangladesh will place its demand for duty-free export of readymade garments to the US market,” he added.
Bangladesh would also demand restoration of GSP facilities (unless the suspension is withdrawn in December review) and duty-free access of RMG to the USA, he added.
The minister said the commerce secretary had apprised US officials about Bangladesh’s progress on the action plan prescribed by the Obama administration for revival of GSP facilities in the US market. He had also raised the issue of duty and concessions for Bangladeshi RMG products in the US market.
-With The Independent input
