Latin American country Chile has recently provided some least developed countries including Bangladesh with duty- and quota-free market access to that country, commerce secretary Mahbub Ahmed told New Age on Sunday. He said that the ministry received a letter in this regard from the Bangladesh mission to the World Trade Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland on the day.
Exporters also expressed hope that their export to the country would increase significantly.
‘Bangladesh has tremendous prospect in boosting export to Chile as export earnings from the country has been increasing gradually over the last two to three years,’ Mahbub said.
According to a general regulation of Chile, the country sets customs duty for the import of goods originated from the least developed countries excluding imports of wheat, wheat flour and sugar.
Chilean president Sebastian Pinera Echenique declared the decision on September 16.
According to the regulation, the decision will be implemented in three phases in three years.
The country will publish soon the list of countries to which the benefit will be applicable on the first year, second year and third year based on the concentration level of exports of the countries.
In the last financial year of 2012-2013, Bangladesh exported products mainly of readymade garments, footwear, pharmaceuticals and plastics worth $30.37 million.
In the first three month of the current financial year, earnings from export to Chile stood at around $8 million, according to the data of the Export Promotion Bureau.
The commerce secretary said Bangladeshi exporters, particularly of apparel and pharmaceuticals sector, were getting additional orders from the South American country.
‘One year earlier, pharmaceutical export was almost zero to Chile but now exporters are getting orders from the country,’ he said.
Bangladesh Knitwear Exporters Association vice-president Mohammad Hatem told New Age that export of apparel products had also been increasing to Chile.
In the future, Chile along with other South American countries like Brazil will become big export destination of Bangladesh, he said.
-With New Age input
