Govt working to raise annual exports to $100b by 2026: Tipu Munshi

The government and private sector entrepreneurs are working together to boost the country's export earnings to $100 billion by 2026, said Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Saturday.

"About $60 billion worth of goods and services were exported in the last fiscal year. Efforts are underway to raise the overall exports to $80 billion in 2024 and $100 billion in 2026," he said at a Meet the Press programme organised by the Overseas Correspondents of Bangladesh (OCAB) at the National Press Club in Dhaka.

The commerce minister noted that Bangladesh has become a developing country after graduating from the LDC status. It will come into effect in 2026, and from 2029, Bangladesh will no longer enjoy the trade facilities meant for LDCs. Then world trade has to be done by competing with developed countries.

"Bangladesh has already started working to meet the challenges of export trade. We have a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Bhutan. Negotiations are underway to ink trade agreements such as preferential trade arrangements (PTAs) or free trade agreements (FTAs) with several other countries," he said.

Mentioning that Bangladesh has the largest trade gap with China and India due to the import of industrial machinery and raw materials, he said, "China has granted duty-free access to 99% of Bangladeshi export products to reduce the gap. Bangladesh is pursuing a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa) agreement with India. There is no alternative to increasing exports in order to keep the economy strong."

Currently, our ready-made garments (RMG) sector contributes about 82% of total exports, he pointed out, adding that special initiatives have been taken to increase the export of 10 products from various sectors including ICT, leather, plastic, light engineering, and jute.

Myanmar was once a competitor of Bangladesh in RMG but their garment sector is almost closed and China is relocating its RMG industry, which is why the possibility of export of manufactured garments has increased, the commerce minister said.

"We have skilled manpower and the production cost is low. Green factories in the RMG industry are now the largest in Bangladesh. As a result, we have huge potential in export trade," he said.

Responding to a question on Sheikh Hasina's recent India visit, Tipu Munshi said the prime minister's visit to India was successful. India has agreed to provide free transit facilities by road with Bhutan and Nepal.

"The opportunities for trade and commerce with India by road, sea and air are increasing, the communication system is improving a lot, and seven agreements have been signed in total for distribution of river water," he said, adding that Bangladesh will benefit from these agreements.

India is investing in three Special Economic Zones of Bangladesh, and we will consider if it wants to invest more, he said.

"The process of solving Bangladesh's existing problems with India is going on through dialogue," he mentioned.

OCAB Convener Qadir Kallol, Member-Secretary Nazrul Islam Mithu and senior member Farid Hossain and senior journalists were present at the event.