Bangladesh will not sign the free trade agreement with India unless the country removes non-tariff and para-tariff barriers, Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhry has said.

"Bangladesh would not sign FTA with India unless it removes non-tariff and para-tariff barriers," Chowdhry was quoted as saying by the Independent daily on Friday.

"We would not go for any FTA with India if it continues to be unflinching in removing non-tariff barriers. We will also comply with the framework of the World Trade Organisation while stitching up the accord," the minister said.

While referring to the just concluded Dhaka-Delhi trade talks, Chowdhry agreed that "progress was made in some areas" but in other areas it "remained still untouched."

Meanwhile, the outgoing Indian High Commissioner Mani Lal Tripathy, who is leaving for home today, told private UNB news agency that India-Bangladesh FTA would open up the vast Indian market for Bangladeshi exports and help reduce the trade gap between the two countries.

"FTAs are the only way forward in the near future given the stalemate in international and regional trade arena," he said.

Joint secretaries of the two countries held three days of talks from October 20 to boost trade and discussed measures to remove barriers that hinder trade. They also agreed to hold a meeting in January next year in New Delhi.

The commerce minister, however, said that Dhaka would launch negotiations on the proposed FTA with Sri Lanka.

Discussions with Sri Lanka will be based on the same terms as with India, he said citing four bases on which the country would embark on discussions with any country for such a deal.

The four bases, he said were elimination of trade discrimination, removal of non-tariff and para-tariff barrier, ensuring special and differential treatment as a least developed country and development stage.