European Union will establish a business council in Bangladesh in a bid to expand and strengthen economic and trade relations between the country and the region, EU ambassador and head of EU delegation to Bangladesh Pierre Mayaudon told reporters on Tuesday.
After a view exchange meeting with commerce minister Tofail Ahmed at the ministry, he said that the proposed council would work to identify the cross-cutting issues, areas of cooperation and difficulties in trade and economic relationship between the two sides.
It will also find out the ways and means to overcome the obstacles and difficulties in this connection, he added.
Mayaudon said that EU countries were engaged in discussion on formation of the council which would also identify options and opportunities for the private sectors of both sides to increase their exports to respective markets.
EU is also keen to diversify trade relationship beyond readymade garment items and the European bloc can be a partner of Bangladesh in development of its blue economy, pharmaceuticals, shipbuilding and IT sectors, he said.
Pierre Mayaudon has recently joined as EU ambassador and head of delegation of EU to Bangladesh.
He said that the council would be formed consisting of ambassadors of EU countries having missions here and business leaders of different bilateral trade bodies working in the country.
Currently, there are some bilateral trade bodies including Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dutch Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry and France Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The council would also address all possible ways of cooperation, conduct common research and undertake joint ventures.
The outcome of the council would also help EU to discuss with Bangladesh on different issues.
Regarding fire and safety issues in readymade garment sector, he said that it was most important to implement sustainability compact to improve working conditions in factories.
EU countries have experiences and expertise in exploring blue economy and they can share their experiences and expertise with Bangladesh in this connection, he said.
Tofail Ahmed said that the EU ambassador expressed keen interest to import pharmaceutical products and ship and IT products from Bangladesh.
Currently, EU is a single largest market of Bangladesh products as more than half of US$ 30.19 billion export earnings came from EU market in last fiscal year, he said.
At the meeting, commerce ministry additional secretaries ATM Mortuza Reza Chowdhury, Amitav Chakravarti, Shawkat Ali Waresi and Monoz Kumar Roy were present.
-With New Age input
