Iran wants to revive PTA with Bangladesh

Oil-rich Iran wants to activate its Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Bangladesh that had been shelved for 17 years due primarily to US sanction on Tehran.

An official of the commerce ministry said the Bangladesh embassy in Tehran recently sent an unofficial letter to the ministry of foreign affairs and ministry of commerce to initiate the PTA for mutual benefits.

A negotiation about preparing the list of commodities would begin shortly by both the parties, the official, requesting anonymity, said.

The Bangladesh embassy letter said a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) and a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) were signed between these two countries in 2005 and 2008, respectively.
Iranian ministry of foreign affairs recently sent an unofficial message to the authorities concerned of the government of Bangladesh. It said there has been a long delay in advancing the PTA between Iran and Bangladesh since it had been signed in 2006.
The government is also considering the recently held meeting between Dr Julia Moin, the commercial counselor of the Bangladesh embassy in Tehran and officials concerned with the government of Iran. Both sides reiterated their interest in turning on the deal.

The Trade Promotion Organization ( TPO) of Iran expressed its readiness to resume negotiation on the commodities list, the letter said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had laid her emphasis on urgent activation of the dual trade agreements between Bangladesh and Iran In 2013.

She had made the observation when Iran's Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mahdi Ghazanfari called on her at her official residence, Ganabhaban. Appreciating Iran’s progress and development in science and technology, she said Bangladesh supported Tehran’s rights to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
After signing of the preferential trade agreement in 2008, it had gone into hibernation primarily because of US sanction on Iran.

The deal is expected to increase Bangladesh's shipments to Iran. Because there is good demand for Bangladesh’s jute and jute products in Iran, officials said.

"The Bangladesh government also plans to provide some trade facilities to Iranian exporters. Regarding the PTA, in the last nine years, both the countries have failed to resolve disputes over some rules incorporated in the agreement,” the commerce ministry official said.

Meanwhile, Iran has asked Bangladesh to resume payments of a credit taken in the 1980s. Bangladesh had taken that loan for the construction of Ashuganj Fertiliser and Chemical Company but later faced difficulties in rescheduling the installment after the imposition of sanctions on Iran in 2006 by the USA. The only oil refinery in Bangladesh, the Eastern Refinery, was built with the help of Iran.

In 2006, Bangladesh and Iran had a trade volume of US$100 million which could have been increased further following the signing of the PTA, sources in the commerce ministry said.