Foreign minister Dipu Moni on Sunday stressed the need for narrowing the bilateral trade gap with Malaysia, the largest ASEAN investor in Bangladesh.
She suggested that Malaysia could import more from Bangladesh to cut down the huge trade gap tilted in favour of Kuala Lumpur. Bangladesh is the third largest trading partner of Malaysia among the South Asian nations after India and Pakistan, Dipu said in her country lecture on Malaysia hosted by Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies.
She said Malaysian companies invested in telecommunications, textiles, financial sector and many other areas in Bangladesh.
However, she said, the trade balance is overwhelmingly tilted in Malaysia’s favour.
According to available statistics the two-way trade between the two countries is close to $two billion.
In the last fiscal, Bangladesh’s imports from Malaysia stood at $1.38 billion and exports accounted for $56 million.
The foreign minister said the state of the bilateral relations was reflected in the growing bilateral cooperation covering a wide range of areas that include economic and technical assistance, trade, investment, tourism and employment of Bangladeshi workforce in Malaysia.
She said Malaysia, one of the largest destinations for Bangladeshi workers, recently withdrew its ban on recruitment of Bangladeshi workers.
She said that Malaysia also regularised about three lakh undocumented workers from Bangladesh.
As a result of a government-to-government agreement, Dipu hoped, Bangladeshi workers would be able to go to Malaysia at cheaper costs.
The foreign minister said apart from the bilateral cooperation, Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur also work closely in regional and international forums to advance global peace, stability, and development.
Chaired by BIISS board chairman ambassador Munshi Faiz Ahmad, the lecture was attended by BIISS director general Major General S M Shafiuddin Ahmed and Malaysian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Ms Norlin Binti Othman.
BIIS introduced the ‘Country Lecture Series’ to promote better understanding of the countries having significant bilateral relations with Bangladesh.
-With New Age input
