SAARC: While the SAFTA ministerial council meeting begins today in the capital, economic affairs and commerce ministers from Bhutan and Bangladesh have already met to consider the free trade agreement to further strengthen its trade ties. Economics affairs minister Norbu Wangchuk and Bangladesh’s commerce minister, Tofail Ahmed met yesterday. Lyonpo Norbu Wangchuk said the free trade agreement would eliminate the tariff barriers and address non-tariff barriers. The first bilateral trade agreement between two countries was signed in 1980 and renewed in 2008. From the renewed agreement, 18 major categories of duty free import items from Bangladesh were identified. “Bangladesh is the only country in the SAARC region with which Bhutan’s trade is surplus,” lyonpo Norbu Wangchuk said, referring to the country’s export value exceeding the import value. “That’s why Bangladesh is very important for the country.” However, under the SAFTA revised sensitive list, Bangladesh has 987 different commodities in the list, including fish, fruits, petroleum oil, cosmetics, chemicals and tobacco products, among others. A sensitive list is a list of commodities with every country, which does not include tariff concession. The use of sensitive lists allows countries to protect growing domestic industries or important sources of customs revenue. However, overuse of sensitive lists can make goods more expensive for consumers and reduce trade between countries. Bhutan has 156 commodities under the sensitive list, which includes meat, dairy products, vegetables, wood and articles of wood. Lyonpo Norbu Wangchuk said the Bhutanese government has asked Bangladesh to reduce their sensitive list. “They assured us they’ll look at it favourably,” he said. An important aspect of this, he said, would be the duty free export of boulders from Bhutan to be used in projects in Bangladesh. Another agenda on the discussion was the inland water transit route. During the secretary level meeting held in April, this year, Bangladesh agreed to allow the use of its inland water route and port for Bhutanese imports and export from the third countries. The inland water transport routes will stretch from the Indian territory through the Brahmaputra river till Mongla and Chittagong in Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh. Economic affair minister, Norbu Wangchuk, said this talk has been going on for quite some time and now it is making good progress, with assurance from the Bangladeshi side to consider this. “With this water route, our export becomes cheaper and convenient,” he said. Meanwhile, the minister also engaged in a similar discussion with the commerce minister of Pakistan, Khurram Dastgir Khan. Lyonpo said that currently trade with Pakistan is low and that the two sides have explored ways to enhance trade and increase cultural ties. Both parties also shared their commitment to fulfill mandates of SAFTA as member states. By Tshering Dorji