Govt move to expand country's export market in Russia

Shah Alam Nur The government has taken a move to boost trade with Russia under its market diversification programme to fetch more export earnings from new markets. Several initiatives have been taken to explore new markets besides the traditional US and EU markets. For negotiation with Russian businessmen and the government, a commerce ministry delegation and representatives from the textile, garment, pharmaceuticals, leather goods, footwear, furniture, agro processing industries and other sectors led by commerce secretary Mahbub Ahmed will be visiting Russia between October 10 and 12, a commerce ministry official said. "The delegation is now on a visit to former Soviet states including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine to find out export opportunity for Bangladeshi goods," the official said. "For diversification of export markets of Bangladeshi products and duty- free market access of Bangladeshi goods to Russia, the trade delegation is now visiting the country," he added. "The government is going to take some initiatives for boosting the export of Bangladeshi goods to Russia," Director of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Md Abdur Rouf told the FE. He said recently they have sent a list of items to the Russian government seeking GSP facility for Bangladeshi products including RMG, pharmaceuticals, rawhide, leather goods, paper and paperboard, home textiles, footwear, steel, electrical and electronic goods, ship ands furniture. He said frozen food, fish, jute and jute goods enjoy GSP facilities in the Russian market but main export items including knitwear, woven, textile, leather goods and footwear products are out of the facility. Country's exporters including Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said Russia might be one of the most important and lucrative export destinations for the Bangladeshi products. They also said dependence of country's most exportable items on EU and the US market could be reduced with the access to Russian market. President of Exporters' Association of Bangladesh (EAB) Abdus Salam Murshedy told the FE, "Recently a Russian business team had visited Bangladesh to strengthen the business relations with us". He said during their visit to Bangladesh the Russian business delegation hoped to increase bilateral trade with Bangladesh to US$ 1.0 billion within a very short time. Mr Murshedy, also Managing Director of Envoy Group, said country's RMG and other exporters saw a bright future of Bangladeshi goods to Russian market after Russian business team's visit to Bangladesh. He said now Russia is one of the biggest economies in the world and a new market for Bangladeshi goods. Mr Murshedy hopefully said "In next few years Russia could be a very important market for Bangladeshi RMG and other goods". According to BGMEA, Russia is the 12th largest apparel importer in the world and Bangladesh, as the second largest garment exporting country, has a bright prospect there. Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury (Parvez), former President, Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) told the FE that demand for Bangladeshi goods including RMG, leather goods, pharmaceuticals and textile is increasing significantly in the Russian market due to their quality as well as competitive price. He said the total demand for clothes in Russia was worth 21.4 billion euros in 2008 while the total demand for clothes worth 29 billion euros has been projected for the year 2013.