National seminar on
“Negotiating Trade Agreements: How to Make it Pro-Poor”

D.Net organised a national seminar on “Negotiating Trade Agreements: How to Make it Pro-Poor” at BRAC Inn at 3pm-6pm on 06 September 2008 in cooperation with Oxfam International.

Dr Shah M Ahsan Habib, Associate Professor, BIBM and Head, Research and Program, D.Net presented the keynote paper at the seminar. The session was chaired by Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Vice-Chairperson, D.Net and Executive Director, CPD. Mr. Suhel Ahmed Choudhury, Former Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Chairman, Janata Bank Ltd; Ambassador Muhammad Zamir, Former Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Manzur Ahmed, Advisor, FBCCI; Dr. Toufic Ahmad Choudhury, Professor and Director, BIBM and Chairperson, D.Net; and Dr. Mostafa Abid Khan, Former Deputy Chief, Bangladesh Tariff Commission and Fellow, Research, Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI) were present as Guest Speakers.

Figure 1: The session was chaired by Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Vice-Chairperson, D.Net and Executive Director, CPD.

In the chairman’s speech Professor Mustafizur Rahman said, ‘While talking about pro-poor policy, we have to focus on two aspects — integrating the poor into the global trade regime and minimising adverse effects of globalisation.’

Former foreign secretary Muhammad Zamir said that the ministries including finance, foreign and commerce must have better coordination for getting benefit from any form of trade negotiation. The former ambassador also stressed that the country must have serious research works and rigorous preparations before sitting in any trade talk.

‘We have to develop our capabilities in the trade negotiation before adapting any pro-poor policy,’ said Suhel Ahmed Chowdhury, former commerce secretary. He added, the country must improve its trade negotiation capacity to derive maximum benefits from the global trade regime and attain a pro-poor growth.

The guest speakers commonly felt that least developed countries like Bangladesh needed to bargain hard with rich trade partners to protect the poor from any adverse impacts of the liberalised global trade.

Figure 2: Mr Annisul Huq, President, FBCCI at the seminar

One of the key participants Mr Annisul Huq, President, The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FBCCI) delivered his valuable comments on the relevant issues and said that the country did not get better result from any trade negotiation due to lack of coordination among the stakeholders.

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