Rumeen Farhana demands US trade deal be tabled in Parliament

Independent member of parliament Rumeen Farhana has demanded that the trade agreement signed with the United States be placed before the Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament). She made the demand today, Wednesday, on a point of order in Parliament.

Rumeen Farhana said a meeting had taken place yesterday, Tuesday, between the US ambassador and the commerce minister. At that meeting, she said, the US ambassador made several remarks about the trade agreement. Among the issues raised were the import-export imbalance between the two countries, Bangladesh’s commitment to import agricultural and energy products, improving the domestic business environment, and policy reforms to attract investment.

“The US ambassador also drew our attention to another matter, saying, ‘while we export a certain volume of goods from Bangladesh, we do not import a comparable volume of goods from America, which has created a significant trade deficit, and it is to address this trade deficit that the trade agreement has been concluded,’” Rumeen Farhana stated.

Referring to the fact that the agreement had been signed three days before the 13th national parliamentary election, Rumeen Farhana said civil society and think-tank circles had argued at the time that an unelected government should not sign such an agreement.

She said the agreement contained several clauses contrary to Bangladesh’s interests. Therefore, she said, it had been expected that the agreement would be signed only after an elected government took office. “But unfortunately, we saw that the interim government did not listen, and the agreement was signed on 9 February,” she said.

At this point, Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad interrupted Rumeen Farhana, citing Rule 301 of the Rules of Procedure of Parliament.

He said, “This is not a point of order. If you read Rule 301, you will see that a point of order must relate to a matter currently before the House or be raised to maintain order in parliamentary proceedings. You have raised a new question. Submit a notice, and it will be considered.”

Following the Speaker’s remarks, Rumeen Farhana sought one more minute. She then said, “If the government wishes, it can cancel this agreement within 60 days. The agreement should be brought before Parliament.”

Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed then said, “I am sorry, but I cannot accept this as a point of order.”