Bangladesh-US monetary relations largely unutilised

The Bangladesh-US economic relations have largely remained unutilised 50 years past independence, exemplified by bilateral trade which is too poor in comparison to that gained by some competitors, businesses said yesterday.

In 2019, the US had a bilateral trade value of $9 billion with Bangladesh, which is not that much considering the fact that it was just $4.1 billion in '09 2009.

On the other hand, with Vietnam it had been $81.3 billion, Malaysia $59.2 billion, Thailand $52.7 billion, Singapore $91.6 billion, Cambodia $5.9 billion, India $146.1 billion and China $558.1 billion.

The scenario was described by A Gafur, director of Abdul Monem Economic Zone (AMEZ), at a virtual dialogue on "US-Bangladesh financial relation: Migration to a developing country", organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham).

Gafur is not alone. Many businessmen in attendance spoke out about the untapped potentials.

Poor infrastructure, corruption, tax policies and export dependence solely on apparel are mainly at fault, said Gafur, also a past AmCham executive director.

"However, Bangladesh has considerably more opportunities than difficulties," he told the dialogue attended by diplomats, business chamber leaders and senior officials of US companies operating in Bangladesh.


Bangladesh and the US signed a good Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Arrangement (TICFA) in 2013 to eliminate trade barriers through discussions.

In their latest efforts to improve trade and financial relations, a US Bangladesh Business Council was formed carry on month.

Currently, the US is the single major export destination for Bangladesh with shipments amounting to almost $7 billion, some 90 per cent which is garment items.

On the other hand, imports from the US have also been lately increasing in the form of agricultural products, nuclear vitality plant gear, and machineries for garment factory remediation.

For many years, this import body remained below $1 billion. Even so, importers say in 2019 it reached $2.3 billion.

"We have an excellent resource, the US Bangladesh Organization Council," said Earl R Miller, the US ambassador to Bangladesh.

The trade body is a robust organisation to enhance bilateral trade and investment, he said.

Regarding expense potentials of Bangladesh's monetary zones, Miller said we were holding good selling details but needed some labour concerns to be resolved to attract international direct investment (FDI).

He also suggested Bangladesh have up branding initiatives and reforms found in the tax policy for more US investment in Bangladesh.

The ambassador also said he was scheduled to carry an important ending up in the government within a month to discuss bilateral trade and investment issues.

Chairing the conversation, AmCham President Syed Ershad Ahmed stated the chamber was as well conducting research to recognize the challenges and prospects in economic relations.

Tapas Kumar Mondal, managing director of International Beverages Private, Bangladesh, a good subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Enterprise, sought amendments to the tax insurance plan.

He said the business has no intend to cut investments found in Bangladesh despite the presence of some big issues in conducting business here.

Md Nazrul Islam, executive chairman of the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza), said a fresh economical zone at Mirersharai in Chattogram would be coming into procedure soon less than Bepza where US investment was expected.

Rubaba Dowla, nation managing director at Oracle Bangladesh, said the business was supplying support to build good places in Bangladesh by giving ideas on environment, security and public health. Syed Mohammad Kamal, country supervisor of Mastercard and vice president of AmCham, moderated the conversation.