They committee chiefs sought more time to submit their reports as they failed to set strategies on their respective issues during the month-long deadline, a high official of the ministry said.

The reports were supposed to be placed in a national co-ordination committee comprising all stakeholders in March to finalise Bangladesh's strategies on market access, product diversification and services sector.

The Ministry of Commerce on February 1formed three committees --Committee on Market Access headed by vice chairman of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Committee on Export Diversification headed by director general (Textile Cell) of EPB and Committee on Services Sector headed by secretary of Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment.

The market access committee sought more time through a letter yesterday, saying that it will able be to submit the report by mid March.

The head of Market Access Committee and EPB Vice Chairman Mir Sahabuddin Mohammad said the work of identifying all the products under HS code is not so easy and simple.

The committee is identifying products in an effort to keep those on the duty-free list of 97 percent tariff lines as decided in the last WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong.

A priority list of products will also be developed to exclude them from the 3 percent sensitive list of a few countries, including the US.

The negotiation on the issues in the WTO headquarters in Geneva is supposed to be completed by April 30 this year.

The Services Sector Committee will submit an interim report to the ministry as it collected rules and regulations of different countries to export manpower.

To finalize a strategy it needs more time, a member of the committee said.

He said improved bilateral relation is needed to send workers to other countries under Mode-4.

Trade body leaders, academics, trade experts, economists and officials are working jointly to set working programmes on the issues.

Mustafizur Rahman, research director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said setting strategies to negotiate in the WTO talks is a continuing process and a country should be prepared itself before any negotiation.

The upcoming months are obviously important for Bangladesh, as some crucial meetings of WTO will be held.