Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Monday praised Netherlands government’s assistance, specially the project for river bank erosion costing Tk 500 crore in Bhola. The Netherlands is providing training for the farmers to keep agro-seeds well, technical supports to construct cold storage and export and assistance in developing rural infrastructure, the Minister told the reporters after a meeting with newly-appointed Dutch Ambassador to Bangladesh Leoni Cuelenaere at his Secretariat office. Tofail also said the Netherlands showed interest to import pharmaceutical products from Bangladesh as it exports medicine to 107 countries across the world. The Dutch Ambassador lauded the remarkable progress of the country’s ready-made garments (RMG) sector saying that Bangladesh is the second largest country, who is exporting RMG products across the world. “We are assisting for Bangladesh RMG sector’s development, proper use of water resources and safe storage, management and exports of agro-products,” Leoni Cuelenaere said. Tofail said, “Bangladesh has a big market in RMG sector in Netherlands. We exported only RMG products worth US$ 840.34 million and imported worth US$ 142.60 million last year.” The Netherlands is interested to import RMG products, shrimp, tobacco, plastic, leather product and medicine, he said. Commerce Ministry Additional Secretary Monoj Kumar Roy and Additional Secretary Jahir Uddin Ahmed were present at the meeting.
