The Bangladesh government is keen to sign a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India to expand bilateral trade and investment. The CEPA will be among trade agreements Bangladesh is prioritizing with its major trade partners, as it will lose duty benefits once the country graduates to developing nation status in 2026. Besides India, Bangladesh was also reportedly seeking to close trade deals with Indonesia and Sri Lanka within a year. While the timeline indicates political expediency on Bangladesh’s part, all stakeholder regions are confronting major economic headwinds and financial pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war, with Sri Lanka among the worst affected. On July 25, Bangladesh media reported that senior government officials from the country’s foreign, labor, commerce, home affairs ministries held a meeting to discuss starting CEPA negotiations with India. The CEPA framework will not be limited to free trade issues like tariff reductions and market access but also cover foreign investment facilitation and employment. The Bangladesh government also reportedly signed a law on signing free trade agreements (FTA), preferential trade agreements (PTA), and CEPA with potential and leading trade partners. This is because, in November 2021, the United Nations approved that Bangladesh would graduate from its Least Developed Country (LDC) status in five years. The LDC status carries along with it many trade benefits.
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.