FE REPORT
State minister for commerce Ahsanul Islam Titu has said the government is going to enter into an agreement with India with an eye to importing daily commodities so that their supplies in local market remain uninterrupted.
"We're also working to import agricultural items from Myanmar. We're close to finalising an agreement to this end. We'll try to sign the deal next July," he added.
He said this at a dialogue hosted by the Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum at the secretariat on Wednesday.
"We're also working to sign trade agreements with various alliances and countries… and also working towards the continuation of duty-free, quota-free facility in the European Union," said the state minister.
He said this at a dialogue hosted by the Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum at the secretariat on Wednesday.
Titu said people on fixed incomes in cities are now under a lot of pressure. The government runs programmes like the TCB sales drive for them.
"We're finding ways to provide essential products for the poor who are based in the city in the future as per the prime minister's instruction," explained Mr Titu.
He says people involved in production in rural areas are better than fixed-income groups. Even village auto-drivers raise a cow or a goat for extra income.
The government has so far been able to keep uninterrupted supply of essential commodities, said the state minister.
Two particularly imported commodities are sugar and oil. Their supplies and prices have remained stable for the past five to six months, claimed Titu.
"Commerce ministry routinely monitors the commodity market. The tools we have are to import and collect some products. We have strengthened the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB)."
Stating that efforts are being made to bring dynamism in the ministry's activities, Titu said, "We want to reorganise the Tariff Commission."
About unsold rawhide this Eid, he said, "The government fixed the prices of rawhide -- Tk 1,000 for a salted hide outside Dhaka and Tk 1,200 in Dhaka."
He seeks to look into this issue and take fitting measures to close the gaps next year.
Masudul Haque, general secretary of the forum, moderated the event with its president M Fasih Uddin Mahtab in the chair.
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