Bangladeshi Senior officials of the Ministry of Commerce are expected to sit on Tuesday to discuss a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) sent by Chinese authorities aiming to develop bilateral relations between the two countries, a source from the Commerce Ministry said.

The meeting will primarily discuss the MoU including the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries.

Source also said the meeting, to be held in the Ministry of Commerce, will be presided over by the newly appointed Commerce Secretary Md Salim Uddin. 

Dhaka and Beijing have already handed over draft joint feasibility-study reports to each other on the FTA between them.

Meanwhile, a study by the relevant authorities of the two countries last March showed that Bangladesh could lose around Tk 15,000 crore a year from import duties if the proposed FTA with China is fully implemented. 

At the same time, that study also said that if Chinese investors come up with proposals to invest in Bangladesh under the FTA, then billions of dollars are likely to be invested in the Bangladesh economy.

According to study, such an FTA should be decided at a high level to conduct a joint study between Bangladesh and China with the aim of increasing bilateral trade and handling the pressure on Bangladesh’s economy once it graduates to become a middle-income country.

The study also said that the Chinese government should provide facilities to local companies that want to invest in Bangladesh. Currently, China is Bangladesh's single largest trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to 24 billion US dollar.

Meanwhile, the FTA will play a crucial role in reducing the trade imbalance between China and Bangladesh.

Experts say products from both countries will enjoy tax benefits under the FTA. They hope the FTA will help increase investment in Bangladesh along with product diversification.

At present, annual bilateral trade amounts to $21 billion and China's exports are about $19 billion. China has offered Bangladeshi goods duty-free, quota-free access to 98 percent of Chinese tariff lines since September 10, 2022. Earlier it was 97 percent.

As a result, 8,930 products originating from Bangladesh is getting benefits through its to the Chinese market, world's second largest economy.