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Dhaka has proposed to the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) to conduct a joint feasibility study on a free trade agreement (FTA) between Bangladesh and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
It has placed the proposal during the second meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) between Bangladesh and the EEC. The meeting was hosted digitally on March 29.
Bangladesh's additional commerce secretary Noor Md Mahbubul Haq and Sergei Glazyev, EEC minister in-charge of integration and macroeconomics, led their respective sides.
"We've mooted a feasibility study on the proposed FTA between Bangladesh and the EAEU. The EEC side will decide on the issue after taking concurrence of EAEU member states," a senior commerce official who joined the meeting.
During the JWG meeting, Dhaka proposed to export manpower to EAEU countries from Bangladesh.
The EEC is interested in cooperating with agro, industrial and tourism sectors of Bangladesh, he added.
A whole range of bilateral issues, including trade and business development, between Bangladesh and the EAEU nations were discussed during the virtual meeting.
The EAEU bloc comprises five member countries-Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. The EEC is the executive body of the EAEU.
Formed in 2015, the Eurasian Economic Union has an integrated single market of 184-million people and a gross domestic product of more than $1.9 trillion.
The five Eastern European countries have more than $1.5 billion annual bilateral trade with Bangladesh.The first JWG meeting was held in Moscow in November 2021 with intent to strengthen economic and trade ties.
The two-day meeting was held at the EEC headquarters in Moscow from November 30 to December 01, according to a commerce ministry note published on its website.
On 31 May 2019, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Bangladesh and the EEC.
The first meeting was held in relation to the MoU.