Tipu Munshi for duty-free access to Malaysia

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Thursday said the export of Bangladeshi goods to Malaysia would increase further and the existing trade deficit would be narrowed down if Malaysia gives duty-free access to products from Bangladesh.

The minister made the remarks during a view-exchange meeting with Malaysian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Haznah Md Hashim at the minister’s office in the Secretariat in Dhaka, said a Commerce Ministry press release.

Bangladesh has already sent a list of items to Malaysia to avail duty-free access in their market, Tipu Munshi said in this regard.

Quoting official data, the commerce minister said that the trade deficit between the two countries in the last fiscal year (FY22) stood at $2,951.69 million as Bangladesh imported goods worth $3,289.5 million from Malaysia against the export of $337.81 million.

He expressed the opinion that the trade deficit between the two countries is still very high due to the high tariff.

In response, the Malaysian envoy said that her country wants to boost trade and economic ties with Bangladesh.

Noting that Malaysian cars are very much popular in the global market, she said that Bangladesh can also import those cars from Malaysia if the high tariff is reduced.

The envoy also said that Malaysia wants to tap the potential for boosting bilateral trade and commerce.