Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan held a meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart AVM Altaf Hossain Chowdhury (Retd), here and discussed various matters to promote trade relations between the two countries. Both the ministers had shown their willingness to meet and touch upon the bilateral trade issues between Bangladesh and Pakistan, finding ways to strengthen the relations.
Humayun Akhter Khan congratulated Altaf Hossain Chowdhury on assuming the important role of the new commerce minister in the Bangladesh cabinet.
The Bangladesh commerce minister stressed the need to finalise the Safta issues under discussion and stated that three out of four issues undertaken by Safta experts committee have been finalised but the fourth issue of compensation of revenue loss by the Least Development Countries has to be finalised.
Humayun Akhter informed him that the decision on Safta Rules of Origin has also to be taken which will be reconsidered again at the next Safta experts committee meeting scheduled in New Delhi in December 2004.
He reminded that Bangladesh has been very fortunate to get the preferential treatments from other countries, like Canada and the EU. When the other countries will be most affected, Bangladesh is expected to enjoy the preferential treatment under the new EU GSP rules of Origin, being a LDC, he added.
It was observed during the meeting that the region will benefit from the Saarc and it is still a challenge for Pakistan as there is not much time left since the new EU GSP will come in force in July 2005.
Bangladesh minister expressed his desire that the Saarc countries should negotiate further with the EU, which seems to be receptive to LDCs. He stated that he would like to discuss it further in the next meeting of Saarc at Islamabad, later in the month.
COMMON UNDERSTANDING: Both the ministers expressed their keen interest in having a common understanding on the issues facing the region for formulating a strategy to counter the challenges posed by the big neighbours.
Humayun informed the meeting that Pakistan's relations with all its neighbouring countries have been on the increase with the exports towards Afghanistan improving day by day, it desires to actively pursue bilateral trade agreements with Bangladesh and would like to request it to finalise the negotiations.
Bangladesh minister promised to look into the issue as the commerce ministry is working on the mechanisms of FTA and an FTA cell has been created to work out on how to get the benefits of all the agreements Bangladesh is signing in like Saarc and Bimstec. Humayun informed Altaf Hossain that Pakistan has formed a new textile ministry, headed by an eminent minister Mushtaq Ahmed Cheema. This ministry, he said is working closely with the ministry of commerce and will focus on the textile trade enhancement.
Mushtaq Ahmed Cheema requested the Bangladesh minister to consider reducing tariff on textile raw material as Pakistan's main exports towards this region is yarn and fabric, which is used for value-addition and re-export.
He said most of the technicians and experts working in the textile sector are from Pakistan and he foresees further co-operation in this sector. He also informed Altaf Hossain that cotton yarn and fabrics are also imported from other counties for the garment manufacturers requirements.
JMC ISSUE: Humayun Akhtar said the issue of Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) between the two countries was also discussed and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz informed that his government desires to have further negotiations on JMC between Pakistan and Bangladesh which will be taken up along with the other issues in the next scheduled meeting.
The Bangladesh minister showed his keen interest to bring a group of trade delegates to Islamabad in the next Saarc meeting. This will be a mixed group of trade and government officials, which will explore business enhancement between the two countries. He stressed the need to have stronger relations between the two governments as well as the business community and desired to have personal contact with the commerce minister of Pakistan.
The meeting was also attended on the Bangladesh side by S.Q. Chaudhury, Adviser for Parliament Affairs to the Prime Minister; Director South Asia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mushtaq Ahmed Cheema, Textile Minister; Jehangir Khan Tareen, Minister for Industries and Production; Ms. Hinna Rabbani Khar, MNA; Mrs. Sajida Iqbal Syed, Press Minister High Commission of Pakistan and Mrs. Roubina Taufiq Shah, Commercial Secretary, High Commission for Pakistan.