Over 94% of exports from Bangladesh to the UK are concentrated in ready-made garments (RMG) products, amounting to USD 5.03 billion. Aside from RMG products, a few other items are also being exported to the UK, but their volume is not up to the expected level, said Ashraf Ahmed, President of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI), at a bilateral meeting with the British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Sarah Cooke.
The British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Sarah Cooke, paid a courtesy visit to the DCCI on Sunday (2 May) at the DCCI Gulshan Centre, reads a press release.
Vice President of DCCI Md. Junaed Ibna Ali and Members of the Board of Directors were also present.
Welcoming the British High Commissioner to DCCI, Ashraf Ahmed said that the total bilateral trade between Bangladesh and the UK reached USD 5.73 billion in FY2023. The UK is the 3rd largest export destination and 26th largest import source of Bangladesh. In FY2022-23, exports from Bangladesh to the UK were USD 5.31 billion and total imports from the UK were USD 415.32 million. The UK is the second largest foreign investment source for Bangladesh followed by the USA with USD 3.04 billion FDI stock.
The potential of economic partnership between the UK and Bangladesh is very bright, especially in the fields of finance, healthcare, Fin-tech, BPO, BPS, tourism, and education sectors.
Moreover, the UK can also transfer technical know-how, innovation, and skills in the ICT, Architecture, and Healthcare sectors through joint venture partnerships.
Both Bangladesh and the UK need to initiate and expand discussions for framing agreements at the G2G level to boost bilateral trade and investment during the post-LDC era. Bilateral discussions need to reflect new priorities arising from Bangladesh’s economic transition, he said. Investments from the UK into Bangladesh need a new focus as does private sector to private sector connectivity.
Sarah Cooke said Bangladesh has made a lot of changes in the last decade and its economy also advanced a lot.
She also said that the UK is interested in working with Bangladesh regarding economic progress and climate change issues.
She again said that the UK will extend its possible support to Bangladesh in successful graduation from the LDC to middle-income country status. But after the LDC graduation, to keep the export market safe, Bangladesh needs to diversify its exportable items other than RMG products.
She hoped that the two-way trade and export between the UK and Bangladesh would accelerate in the future. Besides, the tax-GDP ratio of Bangladesh should be increased, she said.
Agriculture, seafood (shrimp), leather goods, light engineering especially bicycles and RMG have huge potential for Bangladeshi exporters in the UK market, she added. She also stressed producing quality products having international standards to grab the international market.
To attract more FDI, she suggested that Bangladesh needs to work more on policy reforms, sustainable and predictable policy regimes, intellectual property rights (IPR), alternative dispute resolution (ADR), and repatriation of profit-related issues.
Prioritizing strong trade and investment relations further, she later invited Bangladeshi business delegations to the UK to enhance better connectivity.
