Talha Bin Habib
The country's apex trade body will pursue Thai entrepreneurs to make more investments here during the upcoming Bangladesh-Thailand business dialogue early next month in Dhaka, sources said.
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) will organise the dialogue scheduled to be held on May 3.
A high-powered Thai delegation, led by minister attached to the Prime Minister's Office of the Royal Thai government Kobsak Pootrakool, will arrive in Dhaka on May 2.
Besides, officials of the board of investment of Thailand, department of trade negotiations (DTN), port authority of Thailand and private sector representatives will attend the dialogue.
Earlier, Bangladesh requested Thailand to allow duty-free and quota-free (DFQF) market access of its 36 products to the Southeast Asian country.
Thai investment in Bangladesh is now around US$ 1.5 billion.
During the dialogue, the FBCCI will request Thai businessmen to invest in the food processing and tourism sectors.
The bilateral trade volume between the two countries now stands at US$ 1 billion.
Bangladesh mainly exports woven garments, knitwear, base metal, chemical products, home textiles, frozen foods and jute and jute goods etc to Thailand and imports plastics and rubber, articles thereof, mineral products, machinery and mechanical appliance, electrical equipment, prepared foodstuffs and beverages etc.
In the fiscal year 2016-17, Bangladesh exported goods valued at US$ 48.57 million to Thailand and imported products worth US$ 781.60 million from that country, according to the FBCCI.
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