Govt forms national committee on exports

The government has formed a national committee to oversee the country's exports as a whole, deal with export-related crises, and the challenges before and after graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) status.
 
The 44-member body consists of 11 ministers, 16 top officials and executives of various ministries, divisions, and organisations, and presidents of 16 export-oriented trade associations.
 
The commerce ministry on Friday issued a gazette notification in this regard.
 
Apart from reviewing the overall exports of the country, the committee will also make recommendations and take decisions on issues related to export methods, incentives for exporting and the production of export items in order to achieve sustainable export growth.
 
The committee, headed by the prime minister, will hold regular meetings and the commerce ministry will provide secretarial assistance to this committee, said the notification.
 
According to officials of the commerce ministry, export growth in the current financial year is satisfactory, which is likely to continue in the next fiscal. However, new crises may arise in the future due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, and the committee will deal with such issues immediately.
 
The body will also decide on the signing of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements with various countries in light of the abolition of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) facility in 2028, once Bangladesh graduates from being a Least Developed Country (LDC).