Bangladesh, Oct. 14 -- Bangladesh has formally sought the cooperation of the Netherlands to advance negotiations for a proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) and safeguard duty-free trade preferences across European markets following the country's upcoming graduation from the Least Developed Country (LDC) category.

The request was conveyed by Commerce, Industries, Textiles and Jute Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir during a bilateral meeting with visiting Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sjoerd Sjoerdsma at the ministry on Tuesday.

Highlighting the critical need to preserve export competitiveness post-LDC graduation, Muktadir pointed out that the EU remains Bangladesh's paramount ex...