Bangladesh-US economical relations largely unutilised
The Bangladesh-US economic relations have generally remained unutilised 50 years past independence, exemplified by bilateral trade which is too poor in comparison to that gained by some competitors, businesses said yesterday.
In 2019, the US had a bilateral trade balance of $9 billion with Bangladesh, which is not that much since it was just $4.1 billion in '09 2009.
On the other hand, with Vietnam it had been $81.3 billion, Malaysia $59.2 billion, Thailand $52.7 billion, Singapore $91.6 billion, Cambodia $5.9 billion, India $146.1 billion and China $558.1 billion.
The scenario was described by A Gafur, director of Abdul Monem Economic Zone (AMEZ), at a virtual conversation on "US-Bangladesh monetary relation: Migration to a growing nation", organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham).
Gafur isn't alone. Various businessmen in attendance spoke out about the untapped potentials.
Poor infrastructure, corruption, taxes policies and export dependence solely found on apparel are mainly to blame, said Gafur, also a past AmCham executive director.
"However, Bangladesh has extra opportunities than issues," he told the dialogue attended by diplomats, organization chamber leaders and senior officials of US companies operating found in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh and the US signed a Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Arrangement (TICFA) in 2013 to remove trade barriers through discussions.
Within their latest efforts to improve trade and financial relations, a US Bangladesh Business Council was formed go on month.
Currently, the US may be the single major export destination for Bangladesh with shipments amounting to nearly $7 billion, some 90 per cent of which is garment items.
Nevertheless, imports from the US are also just lately increasing in the sort of agricultural products, nuclear vitality plant products, and machineries for garment factory remediation.
For many years, this import number remained below $1 billion. However, importers say in 2019 it reached $2.3 billion.
"We have an excellent resource, the US Bangladesh Organization Council," explained Earl R Miller, the US ambassador to Bangladesh.
The trade body is a powerful organisation to enhance bilateral trade and investment, he said.
Regarding financial commitment potentials of Bangladesh's economical zones, Miller said they were good selling tips but needed some labour concerns to get resolved to attract international direct investment (FDI).
He also suggested Bangladesh have up branding initiatives and reforms found in the tax insurance policy for more US investment in Bangladesh.
The ambassador also said he was scheduled to hold an important ending up in the government within a month to discuss bilateral trade and investment issues.
Chairing the debate, AmCham President Syed Ershad Ahmed explained the chamber was as well conducting research to recognize the challenges and prospects in economic relations.
Tapas Kumar Mondal, managing director of International Drinks Private, Bangladesh, a subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Enterprise, sought amendments to the taxes policy.
He said the business has no plan to cut investments found in Bangladesh despite the occurrence of some big difficulties in conducting business here.
Md Nazrul Islam, executive chairman of the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza), said a new economical zone at Mirersharai in Chattogram will be coming into procedure soon in Bepza where US investment was expected.
Rubaba Dowla, region managing director at Oracle Bangladesh, said the business was giving support to build clever places in Bangladesh by providing ideas on environment, safeness and public well being. Syed Mohammad Kamal, nation supervisor of Mastercard and vice president of AmCham, moderated the dialogue.
