Does Bangladesh export its merchandise to Israel?
Replies received from high officials of the agencies concerned and statistics available with the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) website are enough to confuse anyone seeking an answer to this question. Bangladesh has not yet recognised Israel as a state.
The EPB website shows that Bangladesh exported merchandise to Israel for the last four consecutive financial years, starting from the fiscal 2009-10. It fetched US$ 17,809.49 in 2009-10, $30,545.84 in 2010-11, $11,837 in 2011-12, $22,435.56 in 2012-13 and $2,577 in 2013-14.
In the EPB website, the commodities exported in the last fiscal were not defined. But in the previous years exports included articles of apparels and accessories.
When the FE sought comments from vice-chairman of the EPB Shubhashish Bose on the issue, he dismissed forthwith any possibility of export to Israel. "It cannot happen. Since Bangladesh does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, there cannot be exports from the former to the latter".
When he was told of the data available with the EPB website, he said he would look into it and then talk again. Since then Mr. Bose has been avoiding this correspondent. He even refused to meet this correspondent face to face.
Mr. Atiqur Rahman, joint secretary, ministry of commerce said there could be mistakes as far as EPB website data are concerned. 'There cannot be any trade between the two countries in the absence of diplomatic relations', he said.
But Dr. M. Saidur Rahman Selim, deputy secretary of the same ministry said, 'If a Bangladeshi exporter wants to send goods to Israel, there is no written ban on the same. The exporter and importer can do trading under 'buying contract' and Bangladesh exporter can avail that facility to export goods to Israel.
When contacted, Mr. Riaz Hamidullah, director general (economic affairs) of ministry of foreign affairs refused to make any comment on the issue.
Dr. Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute (PRI) also dismissed the possibility of any export from Bangladesh to Israel in the absence of formal trade ties between the two countries.
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