Bangladesh cuts duty on 602 products for APTA states

Desk Report: Bangladesh has offered duty concessions on import of 602 products from five countries including China and India under the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), reports New Age.
The National Board of Revenue on September 18 issued a statutory regulatory order allowing duty concessions ranging from 10 per cent to 70 per cent to APTA member states — China, India, South Korea, Laos and Sri Lanka.
The decision came into force from July 1 with retrospective effect.
Of the product list, 598 are for all member countries while Laos as a least developed country will enjoy the benefit at higher rates for the remaining four products.
The six-member APTA platform cumulatively offered duty concessions on more than 11,000 products to each other as per decision of the fourth round of negotiations of the forum held in January, 2017.
Initially, the countries decided to implement the decision from January, 2018 but failed as they could not complete the procedures.
Officials of the commerce ministry said that the coverage of the product list had been widened at the fourth round of negotiations to boost regional trade among the countries under the bloc.
APTA initiative first came into effect in 2005 to facilitate trade through offering tariff concessions among the member states.
Officials said that Bangladeshi importers from now on would enjoy duty waiver on import of the products, listed by NBR, from the APTA member countries.
On the other hand, Bangladeshi exporters will also enjoy duty concessions on their products for entry into the member states.
For example, India on July 2 announced that it would provide tariff concessions on 3,142 products to the member states including Bangladesh.
In addition, the least developed countries under the bloc — Bangladesh and Laos — will enjoy the benefit at higher rates for additional 48 products.
China in general has cut duty on 2,191 products, South Korea on 2,797, Sri Lanka on 598 and Laos on 999 products.
Besides, China has offered duty concessions on additional 181 products and Sri Lanka on 75 products for both Bangladesh and Laos while South Korea has cut duty up to 100 per cent on 951 products and 943 products for Bangladesh and Laos respectively.
Before the latest round of tariff cut, there were 4,270 products under the scheme including 110 of Bangladesh.
Although the volume of trade under APTA is not significant, there is huge potential as the region is an area of around 300 crore people and one of the largest consumption markets, trade officials said.
They said that Bangladesh should explore the prospect.
Under the APTA rules of origin (RoO), the common minimum local value addition is at least 45 per cent of the freight on board (FOB) value to enjoy the concessions.
But the rate varies on several conditions, such as for LDCs it is 35 per cent.
APTA, previously known as the Bangkok Agreement, was first signed in 1975 as an initiative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
APTA is the only operational trade agreement linking China and India, two of the fastest growing markets in the world, and other major markets such as South Korea, according to UNESCAP.