Dhaka: The Cabinet on Monday approved a proposal for ratification of the Second Amendment to the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), a preferential trade agreement between the countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

The approval was given at the weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at the Cabinet Room of the Jatiya Sangsad with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Briefing reporters at the Bangladesh Secretariat, Secretary of the Cabinet Division (Coordination and Reforms) N M Ziaul Alam said as per the second amendment Bangladesh would get duty facilities of 10,677 items to different APTA countries, 6029 items more than previous provision.

The Cabinet also approved, in principle, the draft of Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute Act-2017 to replace the Livestock Research Institute Ordinance 1984, which became defunct as per a Supreme Court verdict scrapping the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution in 2010.

Ziaul Alam said as per the Supreme Court order the new law has been made in Bangla. It added four new sections incorporating the activities of the Board of the institute and fee for giving consultation services to any public or private organization.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Cabinet members congratulated three Bangladesh origin British nationals Tulip Rezwana Siddique, Rushnara Ali and Rupa Haque for their win as member of the House of Commons in the recently held snap polls in the UK.