BANGLADESH

The government has prepared the draft of a law to control the activities of the multi-level marketing (MLM) companies and sent it to the ministries of finance and public administration for their opinion, the commerce minister tells parliament.

"The draft law--'Direct Sales Act-2012'--will be placed in the cabinet for approval when the ministries give their opinion on it," minister G M Quader said while replying to a supplementary question from ruling Awami League MP Tazul Islam during the question-answer session on Monday.

The minister said some MLM companies have been cheating people, alluring them by promising good profits. A total of 69 MLM companies have been given registration so far.

The government has stopped registration of more MLM companies in the wake of allegations against some of them, he said.

Stating that it was possible to take action against them under the existing law, Quader said, "Steps will be taken after discussion with all relevant ministries on the type of legal measures possible," he added.

2800 TCB DEALERS

Responding to a query from ruling party MP A B M Golam Mostafa, the commerce minister said that a total of 2,800 dealers have been appointed across the country by the state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).

Quader said some 13,782 metric tonnes of sugar, 7,382 metric tonnes of lentil, 600 metric tonnes of gram, 600 metric tonnes of date and 353,434 litres of soybean oil were distributed among the consumers through the dealers over the last six months.

BILATERAL PACTS WITH 40 STATES

In reply to a starred question from Monirul Islam MP, he said that Bangladesh has so far signed bilateral agreements with 40 countries. "Bangladesh has also signed SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Area) pact with India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Pakistan and Afghanistan."

The country has signed ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreement with India, Sri Lanka, China, South Korea and Laos, and BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) accord with Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan, the commerce minister informed.

Quader, in reply to the question of Jatiya Party MP Mujibul Haque, said that the government has taken some initiatives to meet the trade gap with China.

China has granted duty-free and quota-free (DFQF) access to 4,788 products of Bangladesh to its market in the 2010-2011 fiscal, he said.