Business Desk :
Economists at a webinar on Saturday stressed the need for opening up of the country’s trade policies for getting preferential facilities in post-graduation period.
With the existing protectionist policies, it would not be possible to reach agreements on preferential trading arrangements with other countries, they viewed.
Canadian University of Bangladesh (CUB) organised the webinar titled “Bangladesh’s Transition to Developing Country: Biggest Milestone in her Development Journey”. The speakers emphasised on trying to get GSP plus facilities while improving the productivity and efficiency in the industries.
“The country should look for bilateral and regional trading arrangements in the post-graduation era,” AB Mirza Azizul Islam, economic affairs adviser to the past caretaker government, said speaking as a panelist.
He said that Bangladesh is well ahead of other competitors in the US market despite 14-15 per cent import duty is applicable on its products. “So, it will not be a big problem,” he said. He also said that the country would not get aid and credit at concessional rates.
Mr. Islam said foreign direct investment will not rise in the post-graduation period due to low ranking of some indexes like ease of doing business and competitive index.
