President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Abdul Matlub Ahmed has urged the newly elected BMCCI leaders to work towards enhancing trade with Malaysia by three fold over the next two years, reports UNB. He made the call when the Board of Directors of the Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI) by its President Md Alamgir Jalil met him at the latter’s office on Monday. The total volume of the two-way trade between Bangladesh and Malaysia has reached US$ 1,314.60 million, according to BMCCI. Bangladesh’s export is only US$ 114.60 million against Malaysia’s US$ 1.2 billion export to Bangladesh for the fiscal year 2014-2015. The BMCCI President said Bangladesh considers Malaysia as one of major sources of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) mentioning that Bangladesh has been significantly lagging behind in the export department that has widened its trade gap with Malaysia. “We need to take steps towards reducing this trade gap by encouraging more Bangladesh exports to Malaysia.” The BMCCI President informed the FBCCI chief that BMCCI are taking various initiatives to enhance business and investment in Bangladesh to narrow down the existing trade imbalance between Bangladesh and Malaysia. He also said 4th ‘Showcase Bangladesh 2016’ will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on May 17-19, aiming to promote trade and investment between the two countries. The BMCCI will host the three-day trade fair in cooperation with Bangladesh High Commission to Malaysia. It will be held in conjunction with SIMDEX’16 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia which is expected to draw SME participants from over 30 countries, and 15,000 visitors. The objectives of the Showcase Bangladesh are to brand Bangladesh, which BMCCI believes, will enhance its image as a reliable supplier, trade partner, and provide a good networking platform between the business communities of the two countries. The BMCCI President also requested the FBCCI chief to provide technical and financial support for BMCCI’s capacity building. Alamgir Jalil said they are expecting that the FBCCI will lead a business delegation during the Showcase Bangladesh 2016. In response, Matlub assured them of sending delegation with a focus on SME sector. The FBCCI President said they will encourage all leading chambers and associations to participate in this SME event. He thanked the BMCCI leaders for their roles in promoting bilateral trade relationship between Bangladesh and Malaysia and assured an all out support for all BMCCI activities. Former BMCCI President Syed Moazzam Hossain, Vice President Syed Almas Kabir, Secretary General Shabbir Ahmed Khan, Joint Secretary General Jahurul Islam Chowdhury, Directors Sheikh Nasim Imam, Dr Wong Kah Hieng, Rubaiyat Ahsan, Yesmin Ipphat, Md Mamunur Rahman, Mohammad Ershad Hussain Rana, Md Anwar Shahid and past Secretary General Ashraful H Chowdhury were present at the meeting.
