Over one hundred Chinese businessmen are expected to join a trade and investment conference to be organised by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Dhaka on November 26. Local business leaders hope that through the initiative both the countries will be mutually benefited and it will be helpful for Bangladesh to narrow down the trade gap with China. Some delegation members of the China Chamber of Commerce have already arrived in Dhaka and started meeting with the government agencies and different trade bodies to explore trade and investment potentials between the two countries. ‘The FBCCI is going to organise Bangladesh-China Trade and Investment Conference to create an opportunity for the business community of both the countries to find a way out to increase export-import and investment,’ Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, senior vice-president of the FBCCI, told New Age on Monday. He said that some 130 businesses from China and more than 300 Bangladeshi entrepreneurs would attend the conference to build up a business-to-business relationship between the two countries. ‘The conference will focus on how to promote business between Bangladesh and China,’ Mohiuddin said. He said besides readymade garment and textile sector the Chinese business leaders were now holding meetings with different sector leaders to build a long-lasting business tie-up. Both the countries will be mutually benefited through the initiative, Mohiuddin said. A 31-member China delegation led by Zhang Xian, vice-chairman of China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textile and Apparel, held a meeting with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association on Sunday and held another meeting with the Export Promotion Bureau on Monday. BGMEA senior vice-president Faruque Hassan said the China business leaders expressed their intention to increase imports from Bangladesh and to invest in the readymade garment sector. ‘We welcomed their interest and suggested that they could invest in the backward linkage industry and establish manufacturing units for high-end products,’ he said. A high official of the EPB said, ‘The China businesses are interested to invest in Bangladesh and they are also interested to increase the volume of imports from here.’ He said that the China delegation expressed its willingness to work together to narrow down the trade gap between the two countries. According to EPB data, the export earnings from China in the financial year 2014-15 stood at $791 million while the imports were $8.21 billion in the same period. Readymade garments, leather and leather products, plastic products, jute and jute goods are the major exportable products to China while Bangladesh imports machineries, electrical equipments, vehicles, and associate transport equipments, mineral products, beverages chemical products, ceramic products, etc from China.
