The government has taken a set of proactive measures to make a breakthrough in regional export markets to reduce the country's reliance on some selected markets and utilising the optimum potentials of local industries, officials at the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) said.
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 taken a set of initiatives including participation in increased number of trade fairs in different countries of the region, arranging single country expositions, sending trade delegations and many more.
"We have taken a set of proactive measures to boost export to the regional countries which would help utilise optimum potential 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 has 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.
"Bangladesh is largely dependent on the American and the European markets for exports. This is risky for a long-term sustainability of local industries. The new initiative would diversify export destinations and our decision is to introduce Bangladeshi products in every corner of the regional countries," he added.
"It is possible to create another American or European market in the regional countries if we can utilise the optimum potential of local industries and discover opportunities in regional markets," the Commerce Minister further added.
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.
However, according to the central bank's data, the country has been achieving a negative trade gap with almost all the regional countries for years.
Bangladesh in the last financial year (2012-13) had a negative trade gap worth $5.89 billion with China, $4.2b with India, $266.99 million with Hong Kong, $429.94m with Japan, $1.45m with South Korea, $70.43m with Myanmar, $9.29m with Nepal, $421.10m with Pakistan, $16.11m with Sri Lanka and $595.41m with Thailand.
Meanwhile, private sector insiders have hailed the government's initiative.
They said that the government should keep on trying exploring new markets keeping the existing ones intact.
"There are huge demands for Bangladeshi goods in the regional markets but in many cases, people of those countries do not have enough knowledge about our products. The government's initiatives will surely help local industries make a breakthrough in those destinations," Marketing Director of Pran RFL Kamruzzaman Kamal told the FE.
According to him, exports of different products of Pran and some other local factories have been achieving a steady growth in the destinations for the last couple of years.
President of Exporters Association of Bangladesh, Abdus Salam Murshidi said there is a huge demand for low-cost readymade garments, cement, food items, batteries, leather and leather goods, jute goods and other products across the regional countries as these countries are either not cost-competitive with local exporters or technologically-behind Bangladeshi competitors.
"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."
Steps taken to explore regional export mkts
Badrul Ahsan | Published: June 01, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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