This article gives an insight into the trade agreements Bangladesh has signed with some countries

Bangladesh – Turkey

The bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Turkey are referred to as Bangladesh–Turkey relations. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has both countries as members. Bangladesh has an embassy in Dhaka and an embassy in Ankara, as well as a consulate in Istanbul.

Bangladesh and Turkey are important trading partners for each other. The value of bilateral trade between the two countries exceeds $1 billion. Apparel has been the most popular export item from Bangladesh to Turkey. Bangladesh and Turkey have been in talks to conclude a free trade agreement since 2012, but the process has been stopped due to problems connected to Turkey’s ambition for EU membership. Bangladesh’s shipbuilding industry has also been recognized as a potential investment target for Turkey.

In 2012, Bangladesh and Turkey inked a cooperative trade and investment protocol. Bangladesh-Turkey Joint Economic Commission meetings are held every two years to discuss strategies to boost bilateral trade and investment.

Bangladesh- SAFTA

The South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) is a 2004 agreement that established a 1.6 billion-strong free-trade zone in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka to boost economic integration and collaboration.

One of the main objectives was to eliminate all customs duties on all traded commodities by the year 2016. In the first phase of the two-year term concluding in 2007, SAFTA required developing countries in South Asia (India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) to reduce their tariffs to 20%. The 20 percent tariff was reduced to zero in a succession of annual cutbacks throughout the final five-year period, which ended in 2012. The region’s least developed countries have an extra three years to lower tariffs to zero. In 2009, India and Pakistan approved the pact, while Afghanistan, as the SAARC’s eighth member, accepted the SAFTA protocol on 4 May 2011.

The following are the key elements that underpin the SAFTA:

1. general reciprocity and mutuality of advantages, so that all Contracting States gain equally, taking into account their varied levels of economic and industrial development, external trade patterns, and trade and tariff laws and systems;
2. Step-by-step tariff reform negotiations, with each stage enhanced and extended by periodic assessments;
3. Recognition of the Least Developed Contracting States’ unique needs, as well as agreement on tangible preferential actions in their favor;
4. All raw, semi-processed, and processed products, manufacturers, and commodities are included.

EU – Bangladesh

The EU collaborates closely with Bangladesh under the EU-Bangladesh Co-operation Agreement, which was signed in 2001. This agreement covers a wide range of topics, including trade and economic development, human rights, good governance, and environmental issues.

Bangladesh has been a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1995, and as a least developed country, it benefits from the EU’s “Everything but Arms” agreement, which provides duty-free and quota-free access to all exports except arms and ammunition.

Bangladesh benefits from the most favorable regime possible under the EU’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP), namely the Everything But Arms (EBA) arrangement, as a Least Developed Country (LDC). The EBA provides duty-free quotas and free access to the EU for all products except armaments and ammunition to the 46 LDCs, including Bangladesh.

The EU launched a Sustainability Compact for Bangladesh in July 2013, in response to the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex, which killed scores of workers. The Compact aims to improve labor rights and factory safety in the ready-made garment industry.

The project brings together the European Union, Bangladesh’s government, the United States, and Canada – the primary export markets for Bangladeshi garments – as well as the International Labour Organization (ILO). The Compact is built around three pillars that are all interconnected:

1. the protection of workers’ rights;
2. Building structural integrity and workplace safety and health;
3. ethical business practices.

The Bangladeshi government agreed in October 2019 to create a roadmap, the National Action Plan (NAP) on the Labour Sector, with timelines for reforms to improve labor rights, including the alignment of the Bangladesh Labour Act and the Export Processing Zone Labour Act with the ILO fundamental conventions. Bangladesh issued the NAP on September 2021.