Bangladesh said on Tuesday that India should fulfill certain conditions like duty free access for 118 items and removal of non-tariff restrictions, before it can start talks on a bilateral Free Trade Agreement.
"The FTA negotiations have to start first on the basis of already due special and differential treatment to Bangladesh as per the World Trade Organisation charter," Commerce Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhry told reporters.
Consideration of comparative development stages of the two countries, resolving the problem of tariff, non-tariff and para-tariff barriers under one package, and ensuring equitable share of trade by reducing huge trade gap of $1billion are the other prerequisites, he said.
"If these bases are not accepted what are we going to negotiate about? This has to be the starting point of negotiations. Otherwise, negotiations will not be useful," he added. Dhaka would also like to see India allow duty-free market access of 118 items, he said.
"We have to have the right conditions to go on FTA... we would like to have these things resolved before the FTA negotiations. If not, we'll have to wait and see."
Bangladesh and India early this month agreed to hold talks on FTA in October.
Though Chowdhry alleged that "no measure have so far been taken from their (India's) part to reduce the trade gap", he appreciated the concept of FTA. "We're of course looking forward to this."