Bangladesh-Bhutan PTA effective from 1 July

The Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) signed between Bangladesh and Bhutan will be effective from the next financial year, said officials privy to the matter.

The Bhutanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has requested Bangladesh to make it effective from 1 July as all the processes including approval have been completed in the Bhutanese Parliament.

Dhaka signed the PTA with Thimphu on 6 December last year, which is Bangladesh's first bilateral trade agreement with any country. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has requested the Ministry of Commerce to take the necessary steps to make the agreement effective from 1 July, as proposed by Bhutan.

Under the PTA, 10 Bangladeshi products, including readymade garments, will get duty free access to the Bhutanese market, while 16 Bhutanese items will get the same preference in the Bangladesh market.

The two neighbouring countries can add more items to the list.

Bangladeshi products that will be covered under the PTA are baby clothes and clothing accessories, men's trousers and shorts, jackets and blazers, plywood, particleboard, mineral and carbonated water, green tea, orange juice, pineapple juice, and guava juice.

Bhutanese products that will get duty free access to the Bangladesh market include milk, natural honey, wheat or meslin flour, homogenised jam preparations, fruit jellies, marmalades, soybean food preparations, mineral water and carbonated water, wheat bran, quartzite, cement clinker, portland cement, soap, wooden particle boards, ferrosilicon, iron bars and rods, and non-alloy steel and wooden furniture.