Prime minister asks businesses as DITF kicks off
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked businesspeople to diversify export products and explore new markets abroad to help earn more foreign currency.
“Don’t rely too much on traditional export products,” she said while inaugurating the month-long 18th Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital.
“Conduct studies and find out new destinations where the demand for Bangladeshi products is high,” she said.
Though Bangladesh has become the second largest exporter of readymade garments in the world, the country has a huge potential in other sectors too, she said.
The sectors include shipbuilding, furniture, jute and jute goods, agriculture and agricultural products, according to Hasina.
On the gas and power crises in industrial units, she said her government is setting up 27 power plants that will have a total capacity of 5,000 megawatt.
Moreover, by June, Bangladesh will import 250MW from India, she said, adding that the government has signed an agreement with Russia to set up a 1,000MW nuclear power plant.
Greeting the businesspeople on the occasion of the New Year, Hasina also said the government has a plan to set up three coal-based power plants.
The premier said her government has started reopening the closed jute mills as the demand for natural fibre is increasing worldwide.
Once Bangladesh was famous for its jute and jute goods, but the sector lost its glory due to the wrong policies of the previous governments, she said.
Commerce Minister GM Quader said Bangladesh needs to export more value added garment items as the demand for such products is high globally.
“In this competitive world, production is not enough; maintaining quality and marketing are also important,” Quader said.
Shubhashish Bose, vice-chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau, said the current export trends indicate that the country will be able to achieve the annual export target at $28 billion.
President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Kazi Akramuddin Ahmed urged the government to allocate a more spacious and permanent venue for the trade fair.
Mahbub Ahmed, commerce secretary, and ABM Abul Kashem, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the commerce ministry, also spoke.
Thirty-one participants from 12 countries, along with Bangladeshi organisations, set up around 506 stalls at the show organised by the commerce ministry and the EPB.
The first DITF was held in 1995.
-With The Daily Star input
