President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Sheikh Fazle Fahim said exports of Bangladeshi goods to India will be increased, reports UNB.
He said this while inaugurating Eastern India Trade Summit-2019 in Kolkata, capital of India's West Bengal state, on Monday.
The Confederation of West Bengal Trade Associations (CWBTA) organised the two-day-long event.
Government officials and business leaders from Bangladesh, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan and hosts India participated at the summit.
The FBCCI president in his presentation said that bilateral trade between Bangladesh and India was US $9.5 billion in 2017-18 financial year.
As CWBTA's member pool of trade associations of West Bengal is a strong network of more than one million traders, the network has a potential value chain for buy back from Bangladesh as well as exports to SAARC, BBIN, BIMSTEC and additional market, the FBCCI chief hoped.
Fazle Fahim further said "Our competitive strengths in leather goods, pharmaceuticals, ship-building, frozen sea food, ceramics, jute products, ICT, home appliance, fisheries and others are leading the way for business diversification."
"India has been financing many of our development projects in power, railways, road and transport, textiles and banking and telecommunications as a strategic partner, and major source of FDI," he mentioned.
The country's apex trade body leader ended his speech with a significant update on the index this year and a more substantial one in 2020 and urged Indian investors to invest in the special economic zones (SEZ) and other potentials sectors taking the lucrative offers provided by the Bangladesh government.
