The government has taken a set of initiatives to make a breakthrough in regional and some other non-traditional export markets utilising optimum potentials of local industries, officials at the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) said.
These will also help reduce the country's reliance on some selected markets, they added.
They said the initiative would also help reduce trade deficit of the country with major countries of the region including Pakistan, India, China, Japan and South Korea.
To this effect, the Ministry of Commerce has decided to help local companies participate in increased number of trade fairs in different regional countries, planned to arrange single country expositions and send trade delegations abroad.
Besides, the ministry has also decided to send trade delegations to non-traditional but potential countries like those of Africa, Russia and some European countries like Turkey.
"We have taken a set of proactive measures to boost exports to the regional countries which would help utilise optimum potentials of our local industries," Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed told the FE.
He said the duty-free access of Bangladeshi goods to India and China and adaptation of China Plus One policy by Japan and South Korea have opened up a new era of business for the local industries which still remain untapped.
According to the minister, the initiative would also reduce the country's dependence on some selected markets like the USA, the EU and Canada.
The commerce minister also said the government is trying to sign preferential trade agreements with some non-traditional markets like Macedonia, Turkey and other countries where prospects of local exports are bright.
"Bangladesh is largely dependent on the American and the European markets for exports. The new initiative would diversify export destinations and our decision is to introduce Bangladeshi products in every corner of the globe."
Vice-Chairman of the EPB Shubhashish Bose said the local industries have the capability to export goods worth US$50 billion within the next five years.
"So we have to create markets for those. The move would also help the country to come out of negative territory of trade balance with those countries", he added.
"It is possible to create another American or European market of vast magnitude in the regional countries if we can utilise the optimum potentials of local industries and discover the opportunities in regional markets," Mr Bose said.
Meanwhile, private sector insiders have hailed the government's initiative. They said that the government should keep on trying exploring of new markets keeping the existing one intact.
"There are huge potentials of local goods in the regional markets. The government's initiative would help local companies flourish in regional and in non-traditional markets," Marketing Director of Pran RFL Kamruzzaman Kamal told the FE.
According to him, exports of different products of Pran and some other local industries have been achieving a steady growth in the regional markets for the last couple of years and the government's recent initiative would give further boost to such a growth.
"It is a time-befitting step. We need to explore our markets in regional and non-traditional countries where huge potential remained untapped for long. It is time to materialise the prospect," President of Exporters Association of Bangladesh, Abdus Salam Murshidi said.
"If local entrepreneurs and the government work together for exploring the untapped markets, then regional countries may emerge with equal importance like the USA and the European countries."
Move to strike breakthrough in non-traditional export markets
Badrul Ahsan | Published: September 13, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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