New wind in Bimstec: Negative list exchange for FTA in June
The Daily Star, Bangladesh
May 16, 2005
New wind in Bimstec-Negative list exchange for FTA in June, foreign secretaries meet in Dhaka May 31
Sunday May 15 2005
Pallab Bhattacharya, New Delhi
Officials of the member countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) will meet in Colombo in the first week of June to exchange the negative lists of sensitive goods in the run up for a free trade pact among them.
Import duties on items on the negative lists would not be brought down to zero as it would hit domestic industries in Bimstec countries, said RS Ratna, director, Regional and Multilateral Trade Relations, Ministry of Commerce, on Friday.
Under the proposed free trade agreement (FTA), import duties on items kept out of the negative list would be zero for increasing intra-Bimstec trade volume.
The member countries have agreed to an initial list of about 1,300 items in their negative lists of goods to protect respective domestic industries, Ratna said.
Asked which industry had the maximum number of goods in the negative list of India, he said it was broadly equally divided between sectors like agriculture, textiles and industry.
The plastic industry is also seeking a level-playing field, he added.
India has convened an inter-ministerial meeting on Monday next to finalise its negative list of items to be submitted to the Colombo meeting of Bimstec’s Trade Negotiating Committee which is required to complete the FTA framework and the final negative list by December.
The Indian commerce ministry has held discussions with representatives of trade and industries in the past one month to reduce the negative list of items from about 1,800 to 1,300 items.
"It is the first time the commerce ministry has undertaken such an elaborate exercise of consultations with the industries," Ratna said.
Bimstec comprises Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. It was established in 1997 with five countries. Nepal and Bhutan became its members last year.
FOREIGN SECRETARY-LEVEL MEET IN DHAKA
BDNEWS in Dhaka says: A two-day foreign secretary-level meeting of Bimstec will begin in Dhaka on May 31.
At the meeting, Bangladesh will assume chairmanship of the forum from Thailand for next one year, according to sources.
The meeting is scheduled to discuss Bimstec’s achievements, free trade area, establishment of the Bimstec chamber of commerce, and cooperation in specific areas including trade and investment, transport and communications, tourism, energy, human resources development, agriculture, fisheries, science and technology.
It would also discuss the expansion of Bimstec cooperation in the areas of culture, education, and public health, protection of bio-diversity and traditional knowledge, rural community development, small and medium-scale enterprise, construction, environment, information and communications technology, biotechnology, weather and climate research, natural disaster mitigation and management.
Bimstec covers a population of approximately 1.3 billion and the trade volume between Thailand and other countries in the group exceeded $3 billion in 2003.
