A top business leader on Monday emphasised the need for a broad-based economic cooperation between Bangladesh and China to narrow the exiting trade deficit between two countries.
According to Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh (EPB), the country’s total merchandised export to China was US$808.14 million in the fiscal year 2015-16 while its import from China stood at US$9.8 billion during the period, showing a large trade imbalance against Bangladesh.
Bangladesh’s export to China grew at an annual average of 30 per cent in the last five years. However, the growth of import was considerably lower than export during this period, on average 13 per cent per annum.
“The bilateral trade between the countries has showed an impressive growth in recent years, with Bangladesh’s export to China is growing faster than its import. In fact, Bangladesh suffers a huge trade imbalance with China,” Abdul Matlub Ahmad, President of FBCCI, told The New Nation on Monday.
He said, the current pattern of Sino-Bangla bilateral trade is ‘one sided’ which needs to be balancing through greater economic cooperation and trade liberalization between the two friendly nations.
“Dhaka and Beijing should engage themselves with a broad-based trade and investment ties to reduce the huge trade imbalance,” he noted.
The FBCCI leader said China is the biggest trade partner and one of the most trusted friends of Bangladesh since formal diplomatic relations established. There are many untapped areas covering trade, investment and developmental cooperation which could be exploited for balancing the trade gap.
Referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit to Bangladesh, Abdul Matlub Ahmad said, it has indeed created a great opportunity to boost economic and trade relations with China by placing the issue of trade barriers and duty-free market access of local products to the Chinese market under the negotiation table.
“If Bangladesh can solve the burning issues through proper negotiation, it can create a win-win satiation for the country,” he added.
He pointed out that Bangladesh should try to bring more Chinese investment to Bangladesh so that the products made through the investment could be re-exported to China. This initiative can significantly reduce trade deficit with China.
