During the visit of Hon. Prime Minister of Sri Lanka to Bangladesh on 19th March 2021, the leaders of the two countries reiterated their commitment for an early conclusion of a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which was on the discussion table since 2014. As the first step towards the FTA, the leaders agreed to explore the possibility of signing a bilateral Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), commencing with a short list of products. the proposed PTA is intended to cover only Trade in Goods.
The Sub Committee on Trade in Goods under the National Trade Negotiation Committee (NTNC) during the meeting held on 4th May 2023 decided to revisit the Request List of Sri Lanka. Accordingly, EDB and DOC have been requested to identify new/potential export products to be considered to request preferential tariff concessions from Bangladesh under the proposed PTA in consultation with the relevant stakeholders in Sri Lanka such as Trade Chambers, Product Associations, Advisory Committees, and individual exporters/entrepreneurs.
It is to be noted that Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are members of SAFTA & APTA agreements and therefore some tariff lines are already granted tariff concessions under these two agreements.
Following documents are attached herewith for your reference
1. The preferential duty SRO under SAFTA and APTA
2. The applicable MFN Customs Duty (CD) Rate can be found via: https://nbr.gov.bd/taxtype/tariff-schedule/eng
It would be appreciated if you could kindly make necessary arrangements to request your members to send their feedback on the products to be identified for proposed preferential tariff concessions using the attached feedback format (Annex I) to expand Sri Lanka’s Request List to Bangladesh under proposed PTA on or before Monday, 22nd of May 2023.
Your urgent attention in this regard would be highly appreciated.
Download the application from here