FE Report
A 45-member delegation is going to explore Latin American markets to help boost Bangladesh's exports to the countries, officials said.
The initiative has been planned for export market diversification and strengthening trade relations with the Latin American countries, they said.
"As part of the initiative, a high-powered trade delegation is scheduled to visit three Latin American countries - Argentina, Brazil and Chile - from September 01 to September 14, 2015. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed will lead the team," an official of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) told the FE.
Earlier, the visit was scheduled from July 25 to August 06, 2015. It was deferred due to national election in Argentina.
The EPB has requested the ministry of commerce (MoC) to issue a GO (government order) on the visit. The MoC will take necessary steps to issue the GO soon, a source concerned said.
The delegation will comprise government officials and private sector exporters of apparel, garments accessories, jute and jute goods, frozen foods, leather and leather goods, pharmaceuticals, processed agro items, plastic goods, surgical products, and computer software.
The team members will discuss various trade-related issues with the government officials of those countries. The discussions will focus on reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers to export Bangladeshi products to Latin American markets.
Besides, a number of seminars and meetings will be held with different trade bodies during the visit. Quality of Bangladeshi export products will be showcased during the business-to-business meetings.
"There is an immense opportunity to export the country's garment, apparel and clothing items to Argentina, Brazil and Chile as well as to other Latin American countries. But we are yet to reach those markets seriously," an MoC official said.
The export policy and the Sixth Five-Year Plan have attached importance to product and market diversification. So, Bangladesh needs to explore new markets and diversify products to raise foreign earnings through export, he added.
Bangladesh achieved a remarkable growth in RMG (readymade garment) export to Latin America in the recent years. From January this year the countries made import of apparel items duty-free.
However, there is no available data on export of Bangladeshi products to Argentina, Brazil and Chile. There was no Bangladesh mission in any of the Latin American countries until 2011.
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