Instead, they claim, Delhi is only offering preferential tariff rates and attaching so many conditions that the agreement is in danger of becoming meaningless.

"Six million pieces RMG is not that significant to the US$10 billion earning Bangladeshi RMG makers. Bangladeshi producers will only be interested if the offer is for duty free access, otherwise it means nothing," said SM Fazlul Haque, outgoing president, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

In a letter to the commerce ministry on November 8, 2006, Delhi urged Bangladesh to accept a preferential tariff. When the offer was first made India had talked of duty free access. Delhi also demanded a quota monitoring system be set up.

Bangladesh has yet to response to the Indian draft memorandum of understanding.

Apart from the apparent withdrawal of the duty free offer and the monitoring requirements, Bangladeshi RMG makers have also reacted to transport conditions Delhi wants to impose. Under these conditions, exports of RMG products are allowed only through six selected land ports.

With no current end in sight to the negotiations, garment exporters fear it could be at least a year before any agreement is reached. There are also concerns that India's imposing new non-tariff barriers will further weaken any eventual agreement, one exporter said.

A Bangladeshi government trade negotiator said the issue is becoming more sensitive as it runs the risk of being mixed up in discussions on a more wide ranging bilateral free trade agreement that India is pushing for.

"India has long been pursuing a bilateral free trade agreement with Bangladesh which we have declined. In this situation I am afraid it is questionable how sincere Delhi is about signing an agreement purely for RMG exports," the negotiator said, preferring anonymity.

India would further review the situation when a new elected government is in position in Bangladesh, he added.

An exchange of opinion meeting on the procedural arrangements for exporting apparel items was held on Sunday at the Commerce Ministry with Commerce Secretary Feroz Ahmed in the chair. Representatives from several trade bodies, the Tariff Commission, Foreign Ministry and Shipping Ministry attended the meeting.

According to the Indian draft, Bangladesh will be able to export six million RMG pieces if fabrics for three million pieces are imported from India while the rest will be either Indian or local.

Although the draft talks of preferential tariffs are on process, Indian ministers still use the term duty free in public. For example, on February 18 Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced a duty-free access for two million pieces of readymade garments to India from Bangladesh every year.

Talking to reporters at Zia International Airport prior to his departure for New Delhi ending his daylong visit to Dhaka, Pranab said both Dhaka and New Delhi agreed to take steps to place bilateral relations on an 'irreversible higher trajectory'.