Finance Minister AMA Muhith and Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed seen at a seminar entitled ‘3rd Front of Bangladesh’s Export Destination Russia & other CIS Countries’, at a hotel in Dhaka on Saturday. Going for bilateral arrangements with Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) can be the key to boosting the country’s exports to the ex-Soviet nations as well as diversifying export destinations, analysts observed on Saturday. The observation came at a seminar entitled: 3rd Front of Bangladesh’s Export Destination Russia & other CIS Countries, organised by the CIS-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce & Industry in collaboration with the Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI) and the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI). In the context of a turbulent global economy, Bangladesh is struggling to increase its export receipts, focusing on the US and the EU markets predominantly with apparel items. The country is now looking to diversify its export destinations especially the emerging CIS besides diversifying export baskets to lower risks stemming from the traditional US, EU markets. Speakers said the issue has become more important after many of Bangladesh’s competitors are going to sign Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with the countries that entertained Bangladesh with GSP facility. If the FTAs are put in place, Bangladesh’s competitiveness will be seriously hampered, and then the 12-country Russia-CIS block will protect, safeguard and enhance the countries trade interests, they added. Besides, entering the Russian apparel market has become more important as the country is going to hold World Cup football in 2018, they also said. Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said the CIS market is lucrative for local businessmen as the region has the potential to grow in the near future and Bangladesh has historically maintained a good relationship with the region. “Russian market could be a good destination for us while other CIS countries are the potential markets for Bangladesh because of their good education system inherited from former Soviet Union,” he commented. He said the country followed a faulty export policy to focus only on the US and the EU markets before 2009, which has put the country’s export potential in danger. He said prior to losing out LDC benefits, the country has to work for bilateral arrangements to explore the untapped markets. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said time has come to sign bilateral deals to boost exports without waiting for WTO resolutions to this end. Banking and LC related problems are the main hurdles to entering the Russian market, which can be resolved through opening Russian bank branches in Dhaka or Bangladeshi bank branches in Russia, he pointed out. He also said there is no alternative to providing cash incentives on exports to include new products in the export basket. “If the local businessmen don’t get any benefit, then why foreign investors will come to invest here?,” he questioned. About the cash incentives, the finance minister told the event that the finance ministry, the commerce ministry and the industries ministry will sit within this year to review the system of cash incentive on exports to remove anomalies. Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque, EPB vice-president Shubhashish Bose, acting FBCCI president Mohiuddin Ahmed, CIS-BCCI president HK Kabir, among others, spoke at the event, moderated by BFTI CEO Ali Ahmed.
