Bangladesh eyes Uzbek investment in closed textile mills

Bangladesh seeks investment from entrepreneurs of Uzbekistan in the closed textile mills of the country. The government has proposed bringing cotton produced in this Central Asian country here to produce yarn.

According to Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (BTMC) data, BTMC currently has a total of 25 open and closed textile mills under its jurisdiction. Out of these, production operations were shut down in 19 mills.

A decision might be taken regarding this issue in the Bangladesh-Uzbekistan 3rd Intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation meeting at a hotel in Dhaka on Friday. Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi will lead the Bangladesh delegation in the meeting.

The 30-member Uzbek delegation headed by the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khodjaev will include Transport minister IIkhom Mahkamov, Investment and foreign trade first deputy minister Laziz Kudratov, Foreign affairs deputy minister Furkat Sidikov, and Agriculture deputy minister Alisher Shukurov. Bangladesh might ink deals with Uzbekistan in this meeting.

A preparatory meeting regarding the expansion of trade and investment cooperation with Uzbekistan was held at the Secretariat on Thursday.

Ministry of Commerce Senior Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh headed the meeting in the presence of other officials of the ministry.

Regarding the meeting, Ministry of Commerce WTO Cell Director General Hafizur Rahman told The Business Post  that a discussion on increasing trade in the textile and cotton sector will be held in the bilateral meeting.

Bangladesh will seek opportunities in pharmaceutical exports. There will also be proposals for further expansion of agriculture between the two countries, Hafizur Rahman said. 

“There are several bilateral trade barriers including double taxation. We will propose removing those. We will offer to establish an Uzbek embassy in Bangladesh.  Flights between Dhaka and Uzbekistan and airport sharing will be discussed,” he added.

An official of the Ministry of Commerce disclosed that Uzbekistan wants RMG expertise share.

“As there are several closed government textile mills, those will be handed over to the private sector. We will invite Uzbekistan to invest in these closed textile mills. They can bring their cotton here and invest in textiles to produce yarn,” the official said.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, goods worth 26.32 million dollars were exported from Bangladesh to Uzbekistan in the fiscal year 2020-22.

Mainly jute and jute products, clothing and textile sector products are exported from Bangladesh to Uzbekistan. On the other hand, yarn and several kinds of fruits are imported from Uzbekistan to Bangladesh.

Earlier in March, the first-ever Foreign Office Consultation (Political Dialogue) between Bangladesh and Uzbekistan was held in Tashkent. In that meeting, the two sides discussed direct flight between Dhaka and Tashkent, avoidance of double taxation, visa waiver agreement for official and diplomatic passport holders, and exchange of visits in the field of general and education. Bangladesh also requested to expedite the proposed MoUs and agreements pending with the Uzbek side.