Bangladesh-US trade deal on 9 Feb, adviser, secy not attending in person
A trade agreement on reciprocal tariffs with the United States will be signed in Washington, the US capital, next Monday, 9 February.
However, the signing ceremony will begin a day earlier, on 8 February. Despite this, Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin and Commerce Secretary Mahbubur Rahman will not attend the two-day event in person.
Both the Commerce Adviser and the Commerce Secretary confirmed the matter to this correspondent separately by phone on Thursday afternoon.
Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin told Prothom Alo that neither he nor the Commerce Secretary would travel to the US for the signing ceremony.
However, a five-member delegation from Bangladesh will go to Washington for the event. A government order (GO) issued by the Ministry of Commerce on 3 February lists the names of the five members.
The delegation will be led by Khadija Nazneen, Additional Secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Wing. The other four members are Joint Secretaries Firoz Uddin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman, Senior Assistant Secretary Sheikh Shamsul Arefin, and National Board of Revenue (NBR) Commissioner Rais Uddin Khan.
According to the GO, the delegation is scheduled to depart Dhaka on Friday, 6 February, and return to the country on or around 10 February.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Adviser and the Commerce Secretary left Dhaka for Japan at around 1:45 pm today. The signing of the Bangladesh–Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (BJEPA) is scheduled to take place tomorrow, Friday in Tokyo. They are traveling to Tokyo to attend the three-day event from 4 to 6 February.
The government order states that, in addition to the Commerce Adviser and the Commerce Secretary, four other officials are part of the delegation for the Japan event.
They are Ayesha Akter, Additional Secretary and Head of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Wing of the Ministry of Commerce; Joint Secretary Firoz Uddin Ahmed; Deputy Secretary Mahbuba Khatun Minu; and Senior Assistant Secretary Mohammad Hasib Sarkar.
Except for the Adviser and the Secretary, these four officials have already been in Tokyo for the past two days. They are expected to return to Dhaka on or around 7 February.
Commerce Secretary Mahbubur Rahman told Prothom Alo that after signing the EPA with Japan, they will return to Dhaka.
Replying to a query about who would sign the agreement with the US on behalf of Bangladesh, the Commerce Secretary said that the Commerce Adviser would sign the agreement online.
Sources at the Ministry of Commerce said that Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin has already signed the agreement in Dhaka. The signed copy will be taken to Washington by the Bangladeshi delegation. On the US side, the agreement will be signed by US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer.