Businesses from Bangladesh and Pakistan at a meeting in Dhaka on Tuesday stressed the need for signing a bilateral free- or preferential-trade agreement to unlock full trade potential between the two countries.
They observed that the bilateral trade remains less than expected as it faces significant challenges, including non-tariff barriers and tariff disparities.
Bangladesh imported goods worth US$627.8 million from Pakistan in FY 2023-24 while its export earnings amounted to only $61.98 million.
"The bilateral trade volume is not up to the expected level since the trade between these two nations faces significant challenges, including NTBs and tariff disparities," President of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Taskeen Ahmed told a meeting with visiting Pakistan business delegation at the DCCI auditorium.
Both sides considered significant cooperation opportunities in agriculture, cement clinkers, leather goods, surgical instruments, chemicals, IT and public health management.
The DCCI president stressed the need for resuming direct flights between Dhaka and Karachi and introducing shipping routes to facilitate trade between the two countries.
The Pakistan business delegation from the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), led by its President Atif Ikram Sheikh, were present at the meeting.
Mr Sheikh said that despite a huge potential, bilateral trade has not yet reached the desired level.
He said about 55 per cent of Pakistan's total exports to Bangladesh come from the textile and apparel sector, while the majority of Bangladesh's exports depend on the ready-made garment sector.
There is a scope to add new products to the import-export activities, urging businesses to import more agricultural products, rice, ceramics and other products from Pakistan to raise the supply and help stabilise the market.
Bangladesh has recently made great progress in the field of information technology and mobile financial services, Mr Sheikh said, seeing potential for working on joint investment in this sector.
He later urged the Bangladeshi exporters to use Pakistan as a corridor while exporting Bangladeshi products to other countries.
The FPCCI chief also said that development of infrastructure in the logistic sector would expedite both exports and imports.
Pakistan High Commissioner to Bangladesh Syed Ahmed Maroof pointed out that movement of goods between the two countries by sea has started recently and if the business activities continue, bilateral trade would reach US$3.0 billion in the next 2-3 years.
DCCI Senior Vice President Razeev H. Chowdhury said both countries have a large pool of young and innovative populations that are very keen in the IT sector.
To utilise this potential, he called upon Pakistani IT entrepreneurs to come to Bangladesh and invest in the Hi-Tech Park here.
FPCCI Senior Vice President Saqib Fayyaz Maggon said: "The more we can increase the export-import volume, the more we can decrease the price of products."
He also stressed on signing an FTA between the two countries.
Moreover, he suggested popularising tourism of both countries through joint collaboration.
DCCI Director Saif Ud Dowlah also spoke on the occasion.
Later, a B2B match-making session among the Pakistan delegation members and members companies of DCCI was held. Nearly 100 member companies of DCCI participated in the B2B session.
DCCI Vice President Md. Salim Solaiman and members of the DCCI board also attended the meeting.
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