Independent lawmaker from Brahmanbaria-2 Rumeen Farhana on Wednesday urged that the Bangladesh–US trade agreement signed during the Prof Yunus-led interim government be placed before Parliament for discussion.
Rumeen, a former lawmaker of BNP in the reserved women seat for 11th Parliament, spoke on the point of order after Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's question-and-answer session at Parliament.
She said that there was an objection at that time because the agreement signed before the elections contained clauses that were against Bangladesh's interests. The government can also cancel it within 60 days if it wants, she added.
The parliament session began at 11:04am with Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad in the chair.
"Yesterday, our Commerce Minister had a meeting with the US Ambassador, and during the meeting, the US Ambassador spoke a lot about the trade agreement we have with America," she said.
She said the US Ambassador raised the issues of trade deficit between the two countries, the promise to import agricultural and energy products from US, improving the business environment in the country, and policy reforms to attract investment.
“We do not import as much goods from America as we export from Bangladesh, which has created a huge trade deficit between the two countries, and the trade agreement was signed to fill this trade deficit,” Rumeen said.
Raising objections to the timing of the agreement signing, she said, “We know that this agreement was signed on February 9, just three days before our national elections on February 12.”
“There are several clauses in this agreement that go against Bangladesh’s interests. Therefore, it should have been signed by an elected government after the elections. Unfortunately, the interim government did not listen to this and signed the agreement on February 9,” she claimed.
At that time, when she wanted to say something more, the Speaker stopped her.
Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad said, “Listen, honorable member, this is not a point of order.”
“If you read Rule 301, you will see that a point of order has to be on the ongoing business of the parliament or to maintain order in the work of the parliament. You have raised a new question. You have given notice, it will be considered,” he went on.
Even after the speaker’s ruling, Rumeen Farhana asked for one more minute. Then she said, “If the government wants to cancel it within this 60 days, they can do so. Let the agreement be brought to parliament.”
However, the speaker did not accept it saying, “I am sorry that I cannot accept it as a point of order.”