Md. Muzibur Rahman :
Dhaka International Trade Fair begins at Purbachal on 1st January, 2022 with a good enthusiasm & festivity. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday inaugurated the 26th edition of Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) declaring ICT products and services as “Products of the year 2022”. The largest annual commercial and trade event of the country is being held at its permanent venue – Bangabandhu Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Center-in Purbachal on the outskirts of the capital for the first time. This kind of trade fair positively affects our economy especially to our trade & export. We know that a company/organization may take its strategies to expand its business either by advertisement or by diplomatic relation or by both of them.
Bangladesh Government is trying to expand its export & to increase trade with all the friendly countries in the world. Domestically it is arranging international trade fair every year which is responding with good result i.e. getting more import orders from foreign countries & foreign consulate which is very important to increase our export & trade volume with other countries. The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) holds every year month-long Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) aiming to expand internal trade & attract more foreign businesses and customers. Businessmen from both native & foreign land participate & exhibit their products & services arranging different stalls & shops in the fair. Different countries in the world are also arranging such type of Trade Fair in their native land to showcase their products & services & to advertise for attraction of foreign businessmen & potential investors in their countries. Many countries in the world adopt economic diplomacy & use their foreign consulate economic wing to this purpose.
Bangladesh is successful in many ways like producing & exporting readymade garments, leather, ceramics, cement, steel & drug exports to foreign countries. Bangladesh is the 2nd largest readymade garments exporter in the world. It is self-sufficient in medicine (drug) production & about 97% demand of the medicine is met by domestically & many pharmaceutical companies are exporting medicine to the foreign countries. There are more products like vegetables, fruits, cereal crops, meat, aquatic & maritime products which can be exported to other countries. They are contributing to our GDP (Gross Domestic Products) directly or indirectly.
In our competitive world, there is no other alternative of business competitiveness to survive & increase trade with other countries. Bangladeshi people must have their production efficiency & they will produce world class commodities & can do their best & focus their energies in that area. They will also make strong market power through large market share & dominance by their products. They will make new & specialized products; will build a powerful consumer base with highly advertised brands through obtaining operative cost advantages through better factor cost & operational efficiencies.
Bangladeshi products will be in leading position supplying qualitative products in the world. The countries in the world are taking & making steps & giving attention to develop their branding power. Our neighboring countries like China & India may be examples of them. They adopt different strategies to expand their trade & brand in the world. The world is now like a village & every state is opening, reforming their economic theory towards co-operations, co-relation & mutual exchange of benefits. Mutual trade, export-import, mutual investment is increasing by the demand of the states.
Digital connection, information & communication technology & other technological development made them easy & closer to each other. Every state now wants & encourages Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), foreign financial & technical help for their economic development. Every state of the world is competing to each other to raise its trade & export for economic development. They have a target in its every financial year about production, income, expenditure, trade & investment etc. To meet these targets, they adopt some strategy to raise their domestic & external finance, export-import income, foreign direct investment. Among them, economic diplomacy is one of them. Bangladesh has its favorable investment-friendly policy & has given more incentives for FDI (Foreign Direct Investment).
Now, we have to create environment by diversified diplomacy for more trade & export of our goods & services to the nations of the world. We can make a brand name “Made in Bangladesh” which will introduce Bangladeshi products & Bangladesh throughout the world. In the age of digital technology, we can easily showcase & connect with all other countries for more trade & export. Bangladesh can take part in the trade fairs of other countries to showcase its products & services to attract of foreign businessmen & investors. The Commerce Ministry with help of Foreign Ministry & Foreign Missions can take this initiative to make the plan successful.
(Md. Muzibur Rahman is writes on development & economic issues, can be reached at: E-mail: [email protected])
