Light engineering, IT and pharma new areas in Dhaka-Tokyo business: Faruk

DHAKA, July 14 (BSS) - Commerce Minister Lt Col (retd) Faruk Khan today identified three new areas -- light engineering, IT and pharmaceutical -- for expanding business with Japan.

Speaking at a dialogue on `Diversification of Exports of Bangladesh to Japan', he said although utility and infrastructure problems are major barrier to Dhaka-Tokyo trade, the government is trying its best to resolve the problems.

Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) arranged the dialogue at its auditorium with its president Asif Ibrahim in the chair.

Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Tamotsu Shinotsuka spoke on the occasion as the special guest while Vice-chairman of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Jalal Ahmed, senior vice-president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) Fahim Masroor and vice-president of Japan-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JBCCI) Rashed Ahmad Ali spoke as discussants.

Representative of JETRO, Dhaka Takashi Suzuki presented the keynote paper on `Facts and Thoughts for Bangladesh Export Promotion'.

The minister said Japanese people have always been trusted friends of Bangladesh terming the latter as `mini Japan' for plying huge number of Japanese vehicles on roads and streets.

"We want to boost trade with Japan and that is why a delegation of EPB would visit Japan in September to explore business opportunities there," he added.

Tamotsu said it is unfortunate that the participation of Japanese entrepreneurs in Bangladesh economic activities is limited. Bangladesh needs to remove its bottlenecks to lessen Dhaka-Tokyo trade gap.

Creating business-friendly atmosphere is pre-requisite to attract new businesses in Bangladesh, he said stressing the need for simplifying administrative procedures for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).


About political stability, the Japanese ambassador said it is
essential for the development of Bangladesh saying political
stability would eventually serve the greater interest of the
country.

Bangladesh has a lofty objective to become a middle-income
country by graduating itself from foreign-aid dependent one
within the stipulated time, he said adding Japan will continue to
be the big development partner of Bangladesh in the coming days.

"We need to know each other's demand to give a further boost
to the two-way trade," said Jalal Ahmed.

Fahim Masroor said IT has emerged as one of the areas which
Japanese investors are looking for. But, Bangladesh is still
lacking in skilled IT professionals to do business with Japan, he
added.

Suzuki strongly proposed Bangladesh to attract FDI by diversifying products attuning to the demand of Japanese investors.

"I request Bangladesh government to know Japanese products for increasing trade with Japan..Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) can support Bangladesh to its value-addition activities and quality management in industry," he said.

Asif Ibrahim said exportables from Bangladesh to Japan are confined to a few items for long. We strongly feel the need for export diversification.

"We believe that export of traditional and non-traditional items to Japan can be increased if there is a concerted efforts of both the private and public sectors," he said.

Bangladesh exported goods worth 350.56 million US dollars against the import of $1.05b in fiscal 2009-10, DCCI data shows.

Posted in: IT and pharma new areas in Dhaka-Tokyo business: Faruk,Light engineering