Bangladesh has signed the much-talked-about Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (Ticfa) with the US after a negotiation for over a decade.
Press Minister of Bangladesh Embassy in the US Swapan Kumar Saha on Monday confirmed the agreement signing.
US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena said Ticfa established a bilateral forum where Bangladesh and the US would meet once a year or more to identify obstacles to increasing bilateral trade and investment and how to overcome those obstacles.
He said now there would be “a brief meeting of the forum” and both sides would introduce issues they considered as obstacles to increasing trade and investment.
“And both sides have some ideas. They would put those on the table. Maybe they would set up a working group,” said Mozena.
The US ambassador said it was a very simple agreement and the text would be published on Tuesday.
The cabinet had endorsed Ticfa in June after negotiating with Washington for about a decade.
The legally non-binding agreement emphasises on prohibition of protectionist trade policy and promotion of bilateral trade between the two countries.
Dhaka has such type of contracts with 42 countries and negotiation is ongoing on for signing agreements with eight more countries; Washington has also similar deals with over 90 countries.
The agreement has a 16-parargraph preamble and the main agreement has seven articles.
Protection of intellectual property rights, role of international convention on anti-corruption and its importance, protection of labour rights, and WTO commitment of both the countries are stipulated in the preamble.