ASEAN Ambassadors had a meeting with ICC Bangladesh President Mahbubur Rahman at ICC Bangladesh Secretariat on Thursday.
The ambassadors were briefed about the activities of the ICC headquarters and ICC Bangladesh as well as discussed promotion of bilateral trade and investment prospects Bangladesh and ASEAN, read a press release.
Mahbubur said ASEAN member states are home to a total of 661 million people with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $3.08 trillion and trade exceeding $2.7 trillion. So, there is a huge market for Bangladesh in ASEAN nations.
Bangladesh highly values the ASEAN community and the constructive role it plays in the global arena. According to 2020 data, Bangladesh imports goods worth nearly $7.0 billion from 10 ASEAN states - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
On the other hand, Bangladesh's exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are still very paltry, less than $1.0 billion per annum, he added. Imports by Bangladesh from ASEAN are much more than its exports. Therefore, urged the ambassadors to use their good offices for increasing imports from Bangladesh to reduce the trade gap.
Chair of ASEAN Dhaka Committee & Head of Mission, High Commission of the Republic of Singapore to Bangladesh Sheela Pillai thanked ICCB president for arranging the meeting and expressed her concern regarding trade gap. She gave importance to diversification of the export basket which will facilitate Bangladesh's export to ASEAN countries.
High commissioner of Brunei Darussalam to Bangladesh Haji Haris Bin Othman pointed out the agro-based products and meat as potential products for export to Brunei.
High commissioner of Malaysia to Bangladesh Haznah Binte Md Hashim said Malaysia has huge investment in Bangladesh and we are looking forward to increasing investment here. She pointed out about the taxation regime in Bangladesh which is one of the impediments to attracting investment from Malaysia to Bangladesh.
ICCB Vice President Naser Ezaz Bijoy mentioned that Bangladesh could be an important development partner and act as the bridge between South and ASEAN nations because of its location. He hoped that ambassadors would promote connectivity and encourage visits by business delegations from ASEAN and vice versa for promotion trade and investment.
The meeting was also attended by Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines to Bangladesh Leo Tito L Ausan Jr, ICCB Executive Board Member Md Fazlul Hoque, Minister Counsellor of Royal Thai Embassy Phnom Thongprayoon, ICCB Secretary General Ataur Rahman, ICCB General Manager Ajay Bihari Saha & Deputy General Manager Syeda Shahnewaz Lotika.
