Bangladesh is completing the procedures to export 6 million pieces of apparel items to India under the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), local daily The Financial Express reported Monday.

India has already sent a draft memorandum of understanding MoU) to the concerned authority of Bangladesh for import of apparel under the SAFTA, the report said.

The commerce ministry will convene an inter-ministerial meeting by the first week of the next month to finalize the strategy of the government for negotiation with the counterpart.

"The government-to-government negotiation will start after finalizing the strategy in line with the draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) as proposed by India earlier," a senior official of the Bangladesh Tariff Commission was quoted as saying.

Last November, India sent the draft MoU with some terms and conditions for Bangladesh to export the apparels items under the SAFTA.

In the draft MoU, New Delhi has agreed to offer preferential access to 6 million pieces of garments provided the fabrics of 3 million pieces are imported from India and the rest of the quantity can be made available either from Bangladesh's own sources or from India.

Source: Xinhua