Govt urges Malaysia to fast-track FTA signing

The government yesterday urged Malaysia to speed up the signing of a free trade agreement as it looks to retain preferential market access after the graduation from the grouping of the least-developed countries.  

"We are interested in signing the FTA with Malaysia," said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal at a meeting with Indera Mohd Shahar Bin Abdullah, deputy finance minister of the southeast Asian country.

Kamal requested him to accelerate the process to strike the agreement, according to a press release from the finance ministry.

Kamal and Shahar Bin Abdullah held a meeting on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Manila.

Bangladesh needs to sign trade deals with major trading partners like China, India, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the EU to retain trade benefits after 2026. If no deal is signed, the country would lose preferential trade treatment following the graduation to a developing country in 2026.

During the talks, Kamal praised the Malaysian government for reopening employment opportunities for Bangladeshi workers in all sectors of the country and urged Kuala Lumpur to take in more manpower.

He expressed satisfaction with signing a memorandum of understanding between Bangladesh and Malaysia on the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

"This will pave the way for further commercial and economic engagement between the two friendly countries," he said, urging Malaysia to export LNG to meet the needs of Bangladesh.

After nearly four years of absence, Malaysia started to intake fresh Bangladeshi migrant workers in August in line with a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries in December last year.

The fourth largest labour market for Bangladesh, Malaysia currently hosts about 800,000 Bangladeshi workers.

Responding, Shahar Bin Abdullah said steps aimed at signing the FTA, exporting more LNG and importing more manpower from Bangladesh would be taken after holding talks with concerned ministries, said the press release.

Currently, Malaysia has seven bilateral FTAs with Australia, Chile, India, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Turkey, according to a website of the Malaysian government.

Besides, as a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the country has regional FTAs with China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand and has concluded trade agreements with the Trade Preferential System-Organisation of Islamic Conference and the Developing Eight Preferential Tariff Agreements.

Malaysia is an important source of foreign direct investment (FDI) for Bangladesh. As of September, the FDI from the country stood at $788 million, mainly in the telecom sector, the press release said.

Kamal called for more Malaysian investment in Bangladesh.

Two-way trade between the two countries is on the rise. In the fiscal year of 2020-21, Bangladesh's export to Malaysia was $306 million against an import of $1.57 billion.

Shahar Bin Abdullah lauded Bangladesh's progress and described the country as a rising star. He hoped the ties between the two countries would deepen further in the coming days.

Kamal also held a meeting with Bhutan's Finance Minister Lyonpo Namgay Tshering and discussed bilateral issues.

In December 2020, Dhaka inked a preferential trade agreement with Thimphu. This was the country's maiden bilateral trade pact.