Dhaka to focus on exports at jt meeting with Vietnam

Bangladesh will place importance on more exports to Vietnam in the joint trade committee (JTC) meeting to be held this month in Hanoi, officials said.
The second joint meeting between the two countries is scheduled for November 20 -21 in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.
"We will emphasis increasing export to Vietnam during the upcoming meeting in Vietnam," a high official of the ministry of commerce (MoC) who is involved in the process told the FE.
He said the government delegation would request its Vietnamese counterpart to remove non-tariff barriers and would seek export diversification in Vietnam.
Commerce Secretary Subhashish Bose will lead the Bangladeshi delegation at the meeting.
The joint committee was formed in 1996 and the first meeting was held from March 22 to March 23 in Dhaka. But export from Bangladesh to Vietnam has not increased significantly since then.
Vietnam is now being considered a potential market in Asia, but Bangladesh could not increase its export to the Southeast Asian nation significantly despite huge demand for Bangladeshi products there.
Bangladesh and Vietnam are the members of Asian Trade Promotion Forum.
The country has a considerable opportunity for exporting frozen fish, knitwear products, pharmaceuticals, furniture, plastic and ceramic products, jute and jute goods products to Vietnam.
The import growth of Vietnam was 13.6 per cent from 2010 to 2015.
Bangladesh imports live animals, animal products, vegetable products, prepared foodstuffs; beverage, sprits and vinegar, tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes, mineral products, products of the chemical or allied industries, plastics and rubber and articles.
The existing trade volume between the two countries is nearly US$ 1.0 billion annually. And the balance of trade is tilted in favour of Vietnam.

talhabinhabib@yahoo.com