Senior Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh has claimed steps have been taken to sign a free trade agreement or an economic partnership agreement (EPA) between Bangladesh and Japan.
“Both Bangladesh and Japan are scheduled to sign the MoC in November this year,” reportedly said the Senior Commerce Secretary speaking to the media.
As per reports, this is the first step towards signing a trade deal with Japan for retaining zero-duty benefits once Bangladesh makes the United Nations status graduation from a least developed country (LDC) to a developing one in 2026 even as Japan is emerging as the most promising export non-traditional market for Bangladesh where ‘Made in Bangladesh’ has already crossed the US $ 1 billion mark.
As per reports, apparel exports to Japan from Bangladesh started increasing since April 2011, when Japan relaxed its Rules of Origin for the LDCs and for the knitwear sector even if in the last fiscal year, Bangladesh’s exports to Japan was worth US $ 1.35 billion, a year-on-year rise of 14.40 per cent, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), of which, US $ 1.10 billion reportedly came from garment shipments.
