Bangladesh, Pakistan to raise bilateral trade to $1b a year
Friday, 31 August 2007
Bangladesh and Pakistan have decided to consider certain measures of duty concession to each other's export products to raise the annual bilateral trade to US$ one billion from a paltry US$ 300 million, reports UNB.
"It's our desire to raise the two-way trade to one billion dollar. It's a challenge and we need very serious work together and we need to come up with innovative ideas to reach the target," Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan told a joint press conference at the end of the Foreign Secretary level meeting.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary-in Charge Touhid Hossain led the home side at the talks held after two years at state guest house Padma Thursday.
Khan said they agreed on early harvest programme giving duty-free access to some products from each country to boost the volume of trade.
He said successful early harvesting programme would be the first step towards conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
"We discussed to remove any impediments in the way to expand our trade," he said, adding that the next Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meeting to be held early next year in Islamabad will look into the issues of banking, shipping and pre-shipment inspections to make significant improvement in the bilateral trade.
Khan said the Joint Working Group (JWG) of the Commerce Ministries of the two countries had a good meeting in Islamabad in July this year discussing how to remove the bottlenecks and raise the volume of trade.
During the talks, he said the two sides identified areas of joint ventures in IT, textiles, leather goods, agro-industry and light engineering.
He stressed the importance on greater economic interactions, particularly at the private sector and business chambers levels of the two countries to increase the growth in trade and economic cooperation. Touhid Hossain said although the volume of bilateral trade remained low, but it was growing. The two sides wanted to expand it, saying that the next JEC meeting would make specific recommendations in this regard.
He said Pakistan and other countries of the region had offered to sign FTA with Bangladesh. The Commerce Ministry was examining all the proposals but it might take some time to take a final decision.
On Bangladesh's indication to import rice from Pakistan, Khan said it would be possible to sell coarse rice to meet the Bangladesh's need as Islamabad exported 1.5 million tons of coarse rice annually. The modalities for importing Pakistani rice would be decided at the concerned ministry level.
A joint statement issued at the end of the talks said Pakistan's previously announced 10,000 metric tons of wheat would reach Bangladesh next month as a gift from Islamabad.On the recent conclusion of MoU in the field of civil aviation, the two sides hoped for its early implementation to bring the two peoples closer.
The two sides agreed to explore the potential areas of cooperation including higher education and scientific research and to increase cooperation in the fields of sports and culture.
On the critical issue of repatriation of about 250,000 stranded Pakistanis languishing in refugee camps in Bangladesh, Khan said the Pakistan government would look into the matter on "humanitarian" consideration.
On SAARC, the two Foreign Secretaries expressed satisfaction at the level of cooperation to implement various decisions taken by the regional body. They expressed commitment to proceed in a focused manner with regard to the project-based cooperation.
The two sides reiterated commitment to realise objectives of the OIC charter and to promote the cause of Islamic Ummah.
"It's our desire to raise the two-way trade to one billion dollar. It's a challenge and we need very serious work together and we need to come up with innovative ideas to reach the target," Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan told a joint press conference at the end of the Foreign Secretary level meeting.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary-in Charge Touhid Hossain led the home side at the talks held after two years at state guest house Padma Thursday.
Khan said they agreed on early harvest programme giving duty-free access to some products from each country to boost the volume of trade.
He said successful early harvesting programme would be the first step towards conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
"We discussed to remove any impediments in the way to expand our trade," he said, adding that the next Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meeting to be held early next year in Islamabad will look into the issues of banking, shipping and pre-shipment inspections to make significant improvement in the bilateral trade.
Khan said the Joint Working Group (JWG) of the Commerce Ministries of the two countries had a good meeting in Islamabad in July this year discussing how to remove the bottlenecks and raise the volume of trade.
During the talks, he said the two sides identified areas of joint ventures in IT, textiles, leather goods, agro-industry and light engineering.
He stressed the importance on greater economic interactions, particularly at the private sector and business chambers levels of the two countries to increase the growth in trade and economic cooperation. Touhid Hossain said although the volume of bilateral trade remained low, but it was growing. The two sides wanted to expand it, saying that the next JEC meeting would make specific recommendations in this regard.
He said Pakistan and other countries of the region had offered to sign FTA with Bangladesh. The Commerce Ministry was examining all the proposals but it might take some time to take a final decision.
On Bangladesh's indication to import rice from Pakistan, Khan said it would be possible to sell coarse rice to meet the Bangladesh's need as Islamabad exported 1.5 million tons of coarse rice annually. The modalities for importing Pakistani rice would be decided at the concerned ministry level.
A joint statement issued at the end of the talks said Pakistan's previously announced 10,000 metric tons of wheat would reach Bangladesh next month as a gift from Islamabad.On the recent conclusion of MoU in the field of civil aviation, the two sides hoped for its early implementation to bring the two peoples closer.
The two sides agreed to explore the potential areas of cooperation including higher education and scientific research and to increase cooperation in the fields of sports and culture.
On the critical issue of repatriation of about 250,000 stranded Pakistanis languishing in refugee camps in Bangladesh, Khan said the Pakistan government would look into the matter on "humanitarian" consideration.
On SAARC, the two Foreign Secretaries expressed satisfaction at the level of cooperation to implement various decisions taken by the regional body. They expressed commitment to proceed in a focused manner with regard to the project-based cooperation.
The two sides reiterated commitment to realise objectives of the OIC charter and to promote the cause of Islamic Ummah.