European nations talk big over trade, safety:Daily Sun

Tofail Ahmed Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Monday said European nations talk big over safety and trade issues of Bangladesh than to offer any help whereas many eastern nations extend cooperation, including duty-free, quota-free access of products. He said envoy Dan W Mozena recently said Bangladesh pays no duty to the US. “But this is not true.” Tofail made the observations at a press conferen
ce organised by Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital. “We no more look to the West, we look to the East,” he asserted. Citing that Bangladesh pays 16.24 percent duty to the US for exporting RMG items, he said, “We have got a habit of talking against our own.” A CPD report says Bangladesh will take one more decade to graduate to the middle-income country, the minister said, adding: “But I can tell you with guarantee that we’ll turn into a middle-income country by 2021.” Planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Japanese envoy Shiro Sadoshima and FBCCI president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed were present as special guests. Mustafa said Japanese people have fear for political instability and hartal in Bangladesh. “We won’t stop hartal by legislation but we’ll develop such an economy so that hartal becomes ineffective.” Sadoshima said Japanese apparel market is a huge one and Bangladesh is the second-largest apparel exporter in the world. “Still the share of Bangladeshi products in Japanese market is very less in quantity.” If Bangladeshi entrepreneurs look to Japanese market, he said, they can catch up a big market. The Japanese government would extend any sort of cooperation to this end. Akram said supply chain is a big problem. “We have to look to the Asian region to bring balance in trade.”