Bangladesh along with other members of the LDC group is likely to seek continuation of the existing trade facilities from all the parties concerned for a six-year period after their graduation from the least developed country (LDC) status.
The group is preparing a proposal for submitting to the World Trade Organization (WTO), sources said.
Md Hafizur Rahman, director general at the WTO Cell of the Ministry of Commerce, said that the LDCs group is going to seek flexibility of the existing facilities for six more years after the graduation.
He added that the LDC group would submit the proposal to the WTO.
The extension of the existing trade facilities would help the LDCs to get preferential treatment for easy transition during their graduation and post-graduation time.
Bangladesh is on its way to graduate from the LDC status in 2026 and likely to get exposed to open competition in its external trade, now being benefited from the generalized system of preferences (GSP). The next graduating countries also include Nepal and Laos.
The DFQF facilities and preferential rules of origin for the LDCs as per the WTO Hong Kong ministerial and Nairobi ministerial declarations must be provided by the developed and developing countries.
The LDCs have been hit hard by the trade downturn, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The persistent food and energy crisis, resulting from the global geopolitical situation, also reversed much of the development progress - achieved so far by the LDCs, further strengthening the rationale for effective post-graduation support, according to an official document.
Currently, Bangladesh's products have duty-free market access to 38 countries.
Of the countries, 28 member-states of the European Union (EU) are giving duty-free market facilities to Bangladeshi products.
Besides, Japan, Chile, Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, India and China are also providing such facilities.
Currently, there are 46 LDCs, of which 16 countries are on the path to graduation.
Ten of these 16 are WTO members including Angola, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Djibouti, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Senegal, Solomon Islands, and Zambia.
Four countries are in the process of WTO accession: Comoros, Bhutan, Sao Tome and Principe, and Timor-Leste.
The other two are Kiribati and Tuvalu.
