The agenda of the upcoming 7th Joint Economic Commission meeting between Bangladesh and the European Union will include issues like strengthening democratic governance, skill development of Home Ministry officials, foreign donation act and support for power sector.
The JEC meeting will be held during November 11-12 at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka. It will also discuss the progresses made after the 6th JEC meeting, officials said.
These matters were included in the minutes of a preparatory meeting of the Economic Relations Division (ERD). The minutes were sent to different ministries and divisions.
Tax exemption for EU-funded projects and support for renewables are two of the three major agenda of that meeting, officials also said.
Bangladesh’s revenue authority, the National Board of Revenue (NBR), is currently looking into the modalities of awarding tax exemption facilities for EU-funded development projects. Officials said this facilities might start rolling out from the next fiscal year (2016-17).
Under the EU’s “Power System Efficiency Improvement Project 2,” several sub-projects for upgrading existing power plants to combined cycle plants are being run in Bangladesh.
The Power Division of the Bangladesh government will prepare a progress report, which will be discussed at the JEC meeting.
In 2013, the European Investment Bank funded two power projects in Bangladesh. More recently, a French bank withdrew its investment from the Rampal thermal power plant project.
Officials said, both these issues are also likely to feature in the table of the JEC meeting in November.
According to the NGO Affairs Bureau, a draft of the proposed “foreign donations act” has been prepared and submitted to the relevant parliamentary standing committee for review.
The European Union will provide €7m for the project for skill development of Bangladesh’s Home Ministry officials.
Under the “Bangladesh Multi-Annual Indicative Programme for 2014-2020,” the EU has already earmarked a €690m fund for three priority projects on strengthening democratic governance; food and nutrition security; and education and skill development.
EU is one of the biggest trading partners of Bangladesh, accounting for nearly 58% of the country’s readymade garment export, according to the Commerce Ministry.
The trade balance between the 28-nation bloc and Bangladesh has been in favour of the latter. In fiscal year 2013-14, Bangladesh exported goods and products worth $16.4bn to the EU against imports of $2.38bn. The EU is also the top investor in Bangladesh.