Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are set to hold a virtual meeting at the end of this month to commence negotiations for a proposed preferential trade agreement (PTA), expected to eventually lead to a free trade agreement (FTA).
"We are having a virtual meeting on May 29 with Bangladeshi counterparts. It's going to be a sort of an introductory meeting," said Sri Lanka's chief FTA negotiator at the International Trade Office established at the Presidential Secretariat KJ Weerasinghe reports Daily Mirror.
The two parties are expected to finalize dates and venues to hold negotiations on the proposed PTA during this virtual meeting.
Hoping that the proposed PTA will expand to an FTA in future, the chief negotiator said that the first stage is going to be a PTA, then it will eventually lead to a FTA.
Sri Lanka expects to conclude negotiations for the proposed PTA by the end of this year or early part of the first quarter of next year.
According to a study conducted by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), the proposed PTA could potentially increase the volume of trade between the two countries, leading to a 25% increase in bilateral trade within five years.
In particular, the proposed PTA has the potential to increase bilateral trade in fabric and yarn benefiting both countries.
So far, under the proposed PTA, Sri Lanka has sent a list of 112 items, seeking duty-free access to the Bangladesh market, while similarly, Bangladesh has sought duty-free access to more than 100 products in the Sri Lankan market.