Keeping in line with a proposal from the European Union (EU) to enhance Bangladesh’s trade links with the members of the European Union, Bangladesh is all set to launch a ‘joint business council’ with the EU next year, informed Commerce Minister of Bangladesh Tofail Ahmed, recently.
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“The business council will comprise representatives of 25 (out of 28) EU members and leaders of our different business chambers,” Tofail told in a news briefing after emerging from a meeting with a European Union envoy at his office in Bangladesh.
Ahmed said the proposed council would work for removing tariff and non-tariff barriers for Bangladesh products in the EU markets and take initiative to increase European investments in Bangladesh’s various sectors. He said Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) would be members of the council on behalf of Bangladesh.
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The council will sit for its first meeting in Dhaka in February next year, Ahmed said after meeting the European Union’s Ambassador to Bangladesh Pierre Mayaudon. The 25-member council will include the chiefs of eight EU embassies in Bangladesh and other organisations of the bloc, and will discuss and find solutions to both tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, Ahmed said. “In the first council meeting, we will discuss the business climate in Bangladesh, and the EU has already formed its part of the council,” Mayaudon said, adding, “The platform will help bring more EU investment to Bangladesh,” he added.
The European Union is the largest export destination for Bangladesh. Bangladesh had exported products worth about US $ 17.04 billion to the EU region in fiscal 2014-15, Ahmed informed, adding that about 60 per cent of Bangladesh’s garment exports are destined to the EU every year, and total exports to the EU would have crossed the US $ 20 billion mark last year had the euro not been devalued.
Bangladesh, as a least developed country, has been enjoying a zero-duty benefit to the EU since 1971 under the EU’s ‘everything but arms’ scheme.
“We have a good relation with the EU. The signing of a deal with a French company for launching the Bangabandhu satellite indicates our friendly relationship with the EU,” Ahmed said while appreciating the EU for providing Bangladesh the opportunity to export all types of products in its markets excepting weapons.
