Dhaka has signed a key deal under the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) in an effort to boost trade in services with major economic powerhouses of the continent, an official said Tuesday.
Commerce Minister Faruk Khan inked the APTA Framework Agreement on Trade in Services on behalf of the Bangladesh government recently, paving the way for further economic integration with the new trade bloc members.
The signing came more than a year after other members of the bloc --- China, India, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Thailand --- approved the accord in a meeting of the APTA in Bangkok, a commerce ministry official said.
"Our minister (Faruk Khan) inked the agreement recently after APTA secretariat had sent the document to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to complete the signing formality," a trade official concerned said.
Officials said while other nations pressed Bangladesh to approve the deal as early as possible, the government dragged its feet over some clauses in the agreement, with stiff opposition coming from the law ministry. However, the law ministry recently withdrew its reservation after the intervention of the Prime Minister's Office and the agreement was approved by the Cabinet in May, they said.
The APTA is a new trade grouping in Asia but it has an enormous economic muscle. Its members make up three-fourths of the Asian population and they include at least three of the world's top 15 economies Trade officials say the pact can boost market access of Bangladeshi service firms such as banks, insurers, financial institutions and hotels to five of the world's fast booming economies.
According to the APTA Framework Agreement on Trade in Services, the member nations will establish and improve infrastructural facilities in their respective countries relating to the service sector. The deal extends cooperation in joint production, marketing and purchasing arrangements and facilitates research and development in a raft of service areas.
It aims at liberalising trade among the member nations and deepening service ties in a bid to boost efficiency and competitiveness and diversify production capacity, supply and distribution of the service firms. Commerce ministry officials who have pushed hard for the agreement expressed their delight at the signing of the deal.
"We are happy that Bangladesh has finally inked the agreement. It will help our service sector to be more competitive and allow them to venture into the top Asian economies," a commerce ministry official said. He said the APTA members will soon launch negotiations aimed at opening up some of the service sectors for foreign investment from within the grouping.
Earlier the APTA members signed two other agreements: Framework Agreement on Trade Facilitation and Framework Agreement on the Promotion, Protection and Liberalisation of Investment in December 2009 in Seoul.
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