Business Desk :
The government plans to double Bangladesh’s exports to Canada within the next three years by boosting the shipments of goods made by small-and-medium enterprises, particularly jute products, according to a press release.
“Bangladesh currently earns about $1 billion from exports to Canada and we want to increase this further,” Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said on Sunday.
As Canada recently banned the use of plastic goods, it could lead to greater exports for Bangladesh.
“This is because our jute goods could serve as an alternative to plastic products in the country,” he added.
Bangladeshi exports to Canada amounted to around $1 billion in fiscal 2019-20, down 25 per cent from $1.33 billion the previous year, data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) shows.
Munshi made these comments while addressing an event marking the successful completion of the phase-1 of the ‘Export Launchpad Bangladesh’ project.
The Export Launchpad Bangladesh is a technical assistance project which consists of a train-the-trainers activity and aims to consolidate the knowledge of theoretical and practical aspects of international trade, the press release said. Twenty-nine Bangladeshi trade professionals were awarded certificates at the event.
The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), the Trade Facilitation Office Canada (TFO Canada) and the Business Promotion Council (BPC) of Bangladesh are collaborating on the project.
LightCastle Partners, a local business consultancy firm, organised the event at Amari Hotel in Gulshan.
“This project will strengthen our progress in enhancing the international trade capacities of our member countries, which has become more important than ever in view of the ongoing pandemic,” said Hani Salem Sonbol, CEO of ITFC.
With the arrival of the Covid-19, the delivery of the programme was successfully modified to be a virtual-based training, investing in exporter training and international market access of the Bangladeshi SMEs, he added.
