The cabinet on Monday approved the Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement (Ticfa), which aims at promoting bilateral trade between Bangladesh and the US.
Briefing journalists following the regular cabinet meeting, Cabinet Secretary Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the legally “non-binding” agreement, which emphasises prohibition of protectionist trade policy, would be signed at a mutually convenient time as soon as possible.
The agreement has been endorsed at a time when Washington is unilaterally making decisions on duty-free benefit provided to Dhaka under the Generalised System of Preference (GSP). The deal is expected to reduce the scope of Washington to take unilateral decisions since in the forum Bangladesh can raise issues that cause impediments to promoting business, the cabinet secretary said.
Mosharraf said Bangladesh and US have been negotiating to sign the contract since 2002 and Dhaka has similar contracts with 42 countries. Negotiation is ongoing for signing with eight more countries. Washington also has similar deals with over 90 countries.
Left political parties Communist Party of Bangladesh and Socialist Party of Bangladesh yesterday criticised the cabinet’s approval of Ticfa.
In a joint statement CPB President Mujahidul Islam Selim and SPB General Secretary Khalequzzaman said the deal would harm the country’s interests and help establish “imperialist supremacy.”
Trade analysts, however, have not seen any danger in signing Ticfa, but they stressed that the country’s interests are protected and issues duly negotiated.
Economist Dr Zaid Bakht said he did not see any reason to worry about Ticfa signing. “It is a framework agreement, where both the countries will have a forum for negotiations, discussions on trade issues,” he said. There are such agreements with many countries worldwide, he added.
Ticfa, if signed, will facilitate negotiations on labour and corruption issues frequently raised by the US authorities and trade lobbies. “We cannot even negotiate those issues fruitfully because of the absence of such arrangement. Wasting time was unnecessary. We could have gone for it much earlier,” said Dr Bakht, research director of the state-run research organisation Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies.
Leading apparel exporter and a former president of the BGMEA, Anwar ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez said it was wise to get Ticfa signed as all the countries are tied in such treaties worldwide. “We cannot stay out. The only concern is whether our interests are protected. We believe the government must have ensured those.”
Bangladesh’s industries are not in a position to ensure labour rights of American standards while American culture cannot be copied here, he pointed out. “Bangladesh needs protections in those issues.”
The agreement has a 16-paragraph preamble and the main agreement has seven articles, the cabinet secretary said, adding, “The preamble emphasised the prohibition of protectionist trade policy.”
Protection of intellectual property rights, role of the international convention on anti-corruption and its importance, protection of labour rights, and WTO commitment of both the countries are stipulated in the preamble, the cabinet secretary said.
Mosharraf said the government is determined to curb corruption. “Fighting against corruption is not negotiable but how it reflects in the text of the agreement is negotiable.”
About labour right issues, he said the government is committed to ensuring labour rights but it is negotiable what would be the language in the text of the agreement. He categorically said, “The agreement will be implemented following the laws and practices of each country.”
The secretary ruled out any concern about enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) after signing the agreement. Being a least developed country, Bangladesh enjoys certain exemptions under the TRIPS agreement in the WTO.
Ticfa will create an opportunity to form a forum where both the parties can discuss on regular basis the problems on trade and investment, he said.
“If there is regular consultation, the scope for resolving opinions will be created. If there is no forum, the US will get an opportunity to take unilateral decisions and it creates trouble (for Bangladesh). When a forum is created, the scope for taking unilateral decision by the US will be reduced to a great extent.”
From this point of view, it would be beneficial for Bangladesh, he added.
Ticfa was included in the agenda of the May 13 cabinet meeting but was dropped from the list at the last minute due to the absence of Foreign Minister Dipu Moni.
