The government has done well to have formed a 17-member advisory panel to guide the free-trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU). According to a report published in this paper recently, the commerce minister will chair it and the Head of the commerce ministry's FTA Wing will be member-secretary. The body brings together officials from finance, foreign affairs, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC), along with business leaders and economists. On paper, it is an impressive gathering. Will this be another committee that loses time before deciding what to do?
Time is exactly what Bangladesh cannot afford to lose. The European Commission's trade profile says the EU was Bangladesh's largest trading partner in 2025, accounting for 21.5 per cent of its goods trade. Bilateral goods trade reached 23.3 billion euros, while textiles constituted almost 94 per cent of EU imports from Bangladesh. Notably, Bangladesh was the largest beneficiary of the EU's Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme, with 19 billion euros of exports enjoying preferences in 2024. After graduation from the least-developed country (LDC) category, the country will retain EBA benefits at least through 2029 under the new EU rules. But three years is hardly long for negotiating, legally reviewing, signing and ratifying a comprehensive FTA. Meanwhile, competitors have not remained idle. The EU-Vietnam agreement, in force since August 2020, eliminates 99 per cent of tariffs, with duties on apparel and footwear phased out. The EU and India concluded their FTA negotiations in January 2026. Bangladesh's garment, leather and footwear exports will therefore compete with products enjoying preferences, while Bangladeshi apparel may face duties of 9.0 to 12 per cent after the EBA transition. Small wonder exporters are worried. An FTA is not merely about retaining a privilege. It is about securing predictable access to the country's biggest market and creating room for non-garment exports, services and investment.
How can the panel help clinch the deal early and effectively? First, it should meet immediately and adopt a time-bound work programme before negotiations create problems. A permanent technical secretariat under the FTA Wing should prepare documents, preserve institutional memory and coordinate ministries. The government should name an empowered chief negotiator who can speak for the country between rounds. Within three months, the panel needs a product-by-product assessment showing Bangladesh's offensive interests, defensive concerns and trade-offs. The NBR and BTTC can map tariffs and revenue implications; business bodies can identify export bottlenecks; and research institutes can test liberalisation scenarios. Without such homework, even an experienced negotiator would enter the room half-blind. The panel should divide the work among specialised groups covering goods, services and investment, rules of origin, customs, standards, labour, environment, intellectual property, digital trade and procurement. Rules of origin deserve special attention because the apparel industry still depends on imported inputs. Bangladesh should seek workable cumulation provisions and long transition periods, while offering phased access for EU machinery, chemicals and other products. The EU-India texts and EU-Vietnam agreement can help the teams anticipate Brussels' demands. At the same time, consultations cannot remain confined to garment associations and Dhaka-based experts. Leather, jute, pharmaceuticals, agro-processing, light engineering, small enterprises, trade unions, women workers and consumers must also be heard, since an FTA creates losers as well as winners.
No doubt tariff preferences are the immediate concern. However, an EU trade agreement also covers labour rights, environmental protection, product safety, customs administration, competition, public procurement and good governance. These should not be treated as last-minute concessions to Brussels. The panel should prepare a reform matrix assigning each task to a ministry, setting deadlines and monitoring implementation. Bangladesh may pursue GSP+ as a bridge or insurance against delay, but that cannot be an excuse to postpone the FTA. It should begin pre-negotiation engagement with the European Commission, seek an early scoping exercise and establish a calendar for formal rounds. Publication of non-confidential progress reports would keep ministries accountable and prevent disagreements from surfacing too late. Bangladesh needs to fast-track its move towards an FTA with the EU, while the new advisory panel must turn its broad representation into a clear negotiating mandate, a strict timetable and technically sound proposals.
