Trade analysts have underscored the need for signing a comprehensive agreement between Bangladesh and India for boosting agricultural exports by resolving the non-conforming sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) that undermine the trade potentials of the two next door neighbors.
They came up with the recommendation at a dialogue titled “Non-Tariff Barriers in Bangladesh-India Trade: Addressing Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Concerns,”which was organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) at a city hotel yesterday.
Certification and testing-related requirements in the Indian market for agricultural and food products create problems for exporters, said KhaledaAkhter, senior research associate of CPD while presenting her keynote speech.
Referring to the findings of a CPD perception survey conducted at major India-Bangladesh land ports,she observed that the related concerns are-harmonisation of food standards, mutual recognition of conformity assessment, dispute settlement and technical cooperation with transparency etc.
“Bangladesh’s export to India is not expanding significantly mainly due to the lack of capacity building of the exporters,” said AmitavaChakraborty, director general (WTO cell) of the ministry of commerce, while addressing the dialogue as chief gust. The second impediment is absence of institutional strengthening while the third is lack of product diversification for the export destinations. Policy Analyst of CUTS PrithvirajNath said, “The major challenges are the capacity issues as the customs are not aware of trade certification standards.”
The exporters need to be aware of the drawbacks, organisations like BSTI and the Agreement on the Establishment of South Asian Regional Standards Organisation (SARSO) will need to undergo institutional capacity building and going for an SPS agreement within the context of SAFTA to increase exports to India, opined CPD Executive Director MustafizurRahman.
A bilateral agreement won’t be a viable solution because problems arise from outdated regulations in the trade policies, implementation of import policies in Bangladesh and countervailing duties (CVDs), which are trade import duties imposed under WTO rules to neutralise the negative effects of subsidies, said MostafaAbid Khan, director, Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI).
Any certification issued by Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB) should be accepted in all the countries, said MahbuburRahman, deputy director of BAB.
“But in reality, the Indian customs is not accepting any accredited laboratory certificates other than from India, and Bangladesh government should settle these issue.”
ZillulHyeRazi, trade advisor, European Union Delegation to Bangladesh, suggested for an efficient administrative system to maintain the hygiene and quality of perishable agro goods for export.
