BSS, Dhaka :
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed Sunday renewed his call to the developed world to act proactively to implement the Bali commitment for ensuring better future of the global trade, and thus the economy.
The commerce minister, while chaired the plenary session of the “ICC International Conference on Global Economic Recovery: Asian Perspective”, noted with concern that some developed countries are yet to pay attention to implement the Bali commitment of providing least developed countries including Bangladesh with duty-and-quota-free access to their markets.
The Bangladesh chapter of the global trade-body – International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh (ICCB) – organised the conference to mark its 20 years presence in Bangladesh. The two-day celebration began on Saturday.
Without mentioning the name of the country, the minister said a “very important” country had been ignoring Bangladesh’s request for allowing duty-and-quota-free access of garment products to its market.
He said many countries including Canada and Japan are providing Bangladesh with duty-and-quota-free access of its products to their market, but still there are some tariff and non-tariff barriers those are hindering growth of Bangladesh’s product on the global market.
The minister, however, said that the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had become a model of development by maintaining constant economic growth in the recent years. Referring to the newly established Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Tofail said as a founder member of this organisation, Bangladesh would get more regional cooperation for strengthening of its regional connectivity with developed infrastructure.
He said there would be an economic corridor connecting Myanmar and China with Bangladesh to facilitate more trade, business and investment among regional states.
The minister said road connectivity would also be established with Nepal after a successful discussion with India, which would strengthen regional connectivity for better trade and business. Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi, Commerce and Supplies Minister of Nepal Sunil Bahadur Thapa, Deputy Minister for Commerce of Myanmar Dr. Pwint San, Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr Atiur Rahman, Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam, Country Manager of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Kyle Kelhofer and ICC Secretary General John Danilovich participated in the discussion on the theme of the conference.
Policymakers, economists and business leaders from across Asia attended the seminar to discuss on the effective strategies for expediting the regional growth prospect while fencing off the external variability and facing global challenges.
Dr Kituyi said here on today that the regional counties should build strong economic fundamentals in a coordinated manner to expedite economic growth.
Focusing on driving the regional growth prospect and facing effectively the internal and external challenges, the Unctad Secretary-General said this region should develop a strong foundation based on creating sustainable job opportunity and reducing domestic and regional inequality.
He also stressed on reaching at an understanding on the regional political dynamics for easing contentious political issues. Spelling out the concerns and the challenges for this region, Dr Kituyi said there are medium and long term vulnerabilities those should be assessed rightly and addressed with effective and pro-active manners.
To this effect, he also underscored the dynamic leadership for establishing stronger regional integrity, which is a pre-requisite for economic and social development.
Citing that the trade among the regional countries remained stagnant at 5.0 percent of the total global trade, Dr. Pwint San suggested efforts to increase the regional trade volume, which would faster the economic growth of this region.
Sunil Bahadur Thapa advised improving physical connectivity among the Asian countries, which is the major hindrance to the development of regional trade and business.
Dr Atiur Rahman highlighted the central bank’s policy and activities to propel economic growth with addressing the global risks factors in the macroeconomic front.
Mahfuz Anam underlined the importance of good governance and role of private sector for ensuring steady and sustainable economic growth.
Kyle Kelhofer advised establishing broader trade and investment relations among the regional countries. For instance, he said China could import more goods from Bangladesh and relocate its industries here for outsourcing.
General John Danilovich talked about the role of ICC to facilitate global trade and investment.
ICCB President Mahbubur Rahman in his introductory remark expressed the hope that the conference would be instrumental to formulate policies and strategies for developing regional trade, business and investment.
