September 30, 2003	Tuesday	Sha’aban 3, 1424

ISLAMABAD, Sept 29: Pakistan and Bangladesh have formally decided to initiate dialogue on signing of free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries to increase the current volume of trade.

Officials at the Ministry of Commerce told Dawn on Monday that in this connection a high-level Pakistani official delegation would leave for Dhaka on October 10 to initiate dialogue with their Bangladeshi counterparts. The officials during their two-day stay in Dhaka would discuss draft modalities of the FTA. The decision of having an FTA was taken following the desires of the two governments, added the officials.

Following this meeting, the officials said, Bangladeshi commerce minister would visit Islamabad on October 26 to discuss the draft agreement with his Pakistani counterpart. During the meeting, it was expected that the two ministers would finally sign the draft agreement, added the officials.

With the signing of the draft agreement, the official said, the two sides would start negotiations on the list of duty concessions on goods to be offered to each others.