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China showed its interest in signing a free trade agreement (FTA) with Bangladesh, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said on Sunday.
The minister was talking to reporters at a view-exchange meeting with Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Zhang Zuo at the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) at the Bangladesh Secretariat.
Bangladesh and China earlier inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard.
Both the countries started working towards a joint feasibility study on the possibility of inking an FTA, the minister mentioned.
Bangladesh is enjoying some duty benefits in the Chinese market as a least-developed country (LDC), according to a commerce ministry official.
Both the Asian countries are members of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) grouping.
Bangladesh's exports to China totaled US$ 949.41 million during fiscal year 2016-2017 and imports from China accounted for US$ 1,0128.10 million, a document showed.