Experts at a seminar on Sunday said that ensuring social, environmental and quality compliance by Bangladesh was the key to exporting its more new products in the global market.They emphasised product diversification, establishing brand image and innovation to boost the export of Bangladesh’s non-traditional products in the international market.‘Compliance is the first problem for Bangladesh in its efforts to export non-traditional products including leather and leather goods, footwear, plastic and light engineering items in the global market,’ Hosna Ferdous Sumi, private sector specialist of International Finance Corporation, said at the seminar on market development and branding strategy for export competitiveness of the selected manufacturing sectors in Bangladesh.The commerce ministry organised the seminar at the Sonargon Hotel in capital Dhaka under the World Bank Group-supported project Export Competitiveness for Jobs.Hosna Ferdous said that the project would formulate a strategy how the branding for Bangladeshi products would establish in the global market.It would also develop a market intelligence system for the selected manufacturing sectors.Commerce minister Tipu Munshi said that Bangladesh would have to increase its competitiveness to enter into the new markets with new products.‘Besides the readymade garment, we have scope to export new products in the world market and to do so we need branding our products,’ he said. The minister also emphasised quality, standard and innovation for export diversification.Labour secretary Mofizul Islam said that the ministry wanted to go for product diversification through the Export Competitiveness for Jobs project.‘We have to face various challenges in the coming days and we must have to go for export diversification,’ he said.Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh president Md Saiful Islam said that the brand image of Bangladesh was improving but still many things remained to be done.Md Obaidul Azam, additional secretary to the commerce ministry, said that they wanted to address constrains to the market access of leather and leather goods, footwear, plastic and light engineering products.
