Staff Reporter:
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam yesterday called for expanding trade and invest-ment cooperation with East European and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, de-scribing the region as a promising yet largely untapped market for Bangladesh.
She made the call when a delegation of the Board of Directors and office-bearers of the Commonwealth of Independent States-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CIS-BCCI) paid a courtesy call on her at foreign ministry here, said a ministry’s press release.
Shama said the present government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, is working to broaden and strengthen cooperation with potential but underexplored regions, including the East Eu-ropean and CIS countries.
Highlighting the importance of diversifying Bangladesh’s export destinations and attracting greater in-vestment, the state minister said countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz-stan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan offer significant opportunities for expanding Bangladesh’s trade.
She stressed the need for exchanging business delegations to explore untapped prospects in trade, in-vestment and broader economic cooperation.
Shama also underscored the importance of closer collaboration among the apex chambers of commerce and industry in the CIS countries to strengthen business-to-business relations.
The state minister urged business leaders to make full use of the existing opportunities to expand mutual-ly beneficial two-way trade and boost Bangladesh’s exports of pharmaceuticals, jute and jute products, leather and
leather goods, ceramics, shrimp, tropical fruits and information technology products to the CIS region.
During the meeting, the two sides also discussed organizing trade and investment fairs and exhibitions, branding Bangladeshi products in the CIS markets, and addressing key challenges, including the absence of direct flights, the lack of resident diplomatic missions in several CIS capitals, and difficulties in bank-ing and financial transactions.
The state minister assured the business leaders of the government’s all-out support to further strengthen Bangladesh’s trade and economic relations with the East European and CIS region.
