The government plans to start negotiations with a dozen countries including US and Canada for signing preferential trade agreements to help boost the country’s export earnings, officials said.

Besides, necessary studies are on with aims to enter into talks for signing PTAs with Vietnam, Morocco and Japan.

On the other hand, studies will also be initiated after necessary approval by the commerce secretary for inking FTAs with Sierra Leone, Senegal and Nigeria, they added.

Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) has completed a study on USA, Canada and some Eurasian countries for examining export potentiality.

A products list has been finalised on signing PTA with Indonesia. That is now in final stage.

The commerce ministry has recently given Malaysia a reminder through the ministry of foreign affairs for starting formal negotiations on signing a free trade area (FTA) agreement as soon as possible, he added.

It is supposed to sign a PTA with Bangladesh and Bhutan by August 30, 2020. It will be the first agreement between the two countries.

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