Dhaka and Washington on Monday inked the controversial Trade and
Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement in the US capital, drawing an
end to a decade long hectic negotiations for the deal.
Commerce ministry secretary Mahbub Ahmed and US deputy trade
representative Wendy Cutler signed the deal for their sides at a simple
ceremony in the office of the United States Trade Representative in
Washington DC.
The deal was signed in Washington, while protests against the deal were
staged by different political parties and socio-political organisations
in Dhaka.
After signing the much-talked-about deal, the officials of the two sides
held the first meeting of the ‘US-Bangladesh Forum on Trade and
Investment’ set up under the agreement.
A 12-member Bangladesh team led by the commerce secretary attended the forum meeting at the USTR office.
The agreement stipulates that the forum would hold its meeting at least once a year.
The deal states that the forum meetings would monitor bilateral trade
and investment relations and identify the opportunities for expansion of
trade and investment and identify and remove the hindrances.
The forum would seek the advice from the private sector and civil society on matters relating to its work, said the agreement.
The cabinet approved the draft deal in June.
Senior commerce ministry officials said that the deal with the US would
usher in a better trade regime with the US which usually imported over
40 per cent of Bangladesh’s total exports.
They said that the deal would demonstrate the government’s firm resolve
in improving labour rights in the country’s apparel industry.
The deal provides for the expansion of bilateral trade.
It also calls for upholding the World Trade Organisation provisions on TRIPS and other international agreements.
The agreement will seek to promote and protect labour rights.
The US back in 2002 first proposed to sign the Trade and Investment
Framework Agreement, but later in 2008 it renamed the deal as Trade and
Investment Forum, which was finally renamed as Trade and Investment
Cooperation Framework Agreement by the US administration in 2010, a
trade diplomat said. (source)