Bangladeshi importers and businessmen see big opportunities and potentials in importing dates, oranges, other fruits and agricultural products from Pakistan to meet the demand throughout the year, including during the holy month of Ramadan.
They also believe that there are huge potentials for exporting various Bangladeshi products to Pakistan.
For this, businessmen from both countries have called for the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers between the two countries.
These issues came up for discussion at a meeting held between a delegation of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry and a business delegation from Pakistan in the capital鈥檚 Gulshan area on Wednesday.
The meeting was presided over by FBCCI administrator Md Hafizur Rahman. In his welcome speech, he said that there was a huge demand for dates in Bangladesh during the holy month of Ramadan.
Along with this, the demand for other fruits also increases during that time, said an FBCCI press release.
Besides, there is a lot of demand for domestic and foreign fruits on the local market throughout the year.
鈥楶akistan can be an affordable and easily accessible source of fruits and agricultural products for Bangladesh,鈥� said the FBCCI administrator.聽
Stressing on boosting bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Pakistan, Md Hafizur Rahman said that there was an opportunity to expand trade between the two countries through joint initiatives and mutual cooperation in the private sector.聽
He also emphasised the importance of completing a Bangladesh-Pakistan trade agreement.
Businessmen from both countries emphasised the development of logistics, supply chain, cold storage, packaging and goods transportation systems to facilitate and expand trade between Bangladesh and Pakistan.聽
The meeting was attended among others by Zain Aziz, trade and investment attach茅 of the Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka, Md Zafar Iqbal, head of the international affairs department of FBCCI, FBCCI leaders, members of the Pakistani business delegation, leaders of the Bangladesh Fresh Fruits Importers Association and others.
