{"id":120069,"date":"2021-11-06T15:08:22","date_gmt":"2021-11-06T22:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=120069"},"modified":"2021-11-06T15:08:22","modified_gmt":"2021-11-06T22:08:22","slug":"sri-lanka-and-bangladesh-can-benefit-from-growing-trade-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/11\/06\/sri-lanka-and-bangladesh-can-benefit-from-growing-trade-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka and Bangladesh Can Benefit from Growing Trade Ties"},"content":{"rendered":"

MD Pathik Hasan<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Trade\npotential in multiple sectors: <\/strong>Many Bangladeshi\nproducts have bright potential in the Sri Lankan market. Similarly, there are\nhuge possibilities for Lankan products in Bangladesh. Now it is high time to\naddress the need to increase the participation of the private sector in the two\ncountries. Sri Lankan entrepreneurs should invest in Bangladesh to serve their\nown business interests.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri\nLanka has invested in Bangladesh’s power sector. Some more opportunities are\nthere for Sri Lankan investors in Bangladesh’s special economic zones,\nindustrial parks and high-tech parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ntwo countries can exchange their experiences in agriculture including paddy\ncultivation, and freshwater fish farming, tourism, cricket diplomacy as also\nCovid-19 vaccine diplomacy. Bangladesh has an interest in acquiring technical\nknowledge from Sri Lanka on coastal, aquaculture, marine culture and deep-sea\nfishing. More institutional cooperation in the field of education for technical\ntraining and skill development can strengthen the ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladeshi\nnurses and other health workers can be trained in Sri Lanka, which can benefit\nfrom importing world-class medicines from Bangladesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh\nhas been doing well in the electronics field, and its products are available in\nNepal now. Sri Lanka can import electronics products from Bangladesh to fulfill\nthe demands of its people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even\nRajapaksa has praised the digital transformation of Bangladesh under the leadership\nof PM Sheikh Hasina and emphasized increasing trade and expanding the scope of\nbusiness between the two countries. He lauded Hasina’s leadership in tackling\nthe pandemic. He evinced interest in exchanging experiences on blue economy and\ndisaster management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extending\nport facilities: <\/strong>Sri Lanka has already\nallowed Bangladesh to use the seaport of Hambantota in its Southern Province.\nThis throws open a huge opportunity for Bangladesh. Bangladesh-Sri Lanka trade\nvolume in money terms is USD 61 million. The government is thinking of\nincreasing it further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart\nfrom this, Dhaka is also thinking of providing various facilities to bring\ninvestment to Sri Lanka. Chittagong port has historic connectivity with Colombo\nport. By using Hambantota port, Bangladesh can reach Central Asia, West Asia,\nEurasia, Russia, China through the utilization of Pakistan\u2019s Gwadar port and\nIran\u2019s Chabahar port.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri\nLankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Bangladesh to mark the birth\ncentenary of Its founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and also the golden\njubilee of Bangladesh\u2019s independence and had detailed talks with Prime Minister\nSheikh Hasina. The meeting agreed to take trade relations between the two\ncountries to new heights. The meeting also signed six memoranda of\nunderstanding on bilateral cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Various\nregional and international issues were discussed during the one-hour summit.\nDuring the meeting, Sheikh Hasina stressed the need for a free trade agreement\nbetween the two countries, saying the amount of trade is less than expected.\nFor this, both sides should quickly go for a free trade agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto the Bangladesh Bank, the country\u2019s trade volume with Sri Lanka is very low.\nIn the 2019-20 financial year, only goods worth Bangladesh Tk 473 crore were\nimported from Sri Lanka to Bangladesh. In the same financial year, only\nBangladesh Tk 325 crore worth of goods were exported from Bangladesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh\nsigned its maiden preferential trade agreement with Bhutan in December 2020,\nwith the people of the two nations reaping the dividends. If a free trade\nagreement is signed, then only the sky would be the limit for Bangladesh-Sri\nLanka business relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maritime\nsecurity: <\/strong>The Colombo Security Conclave held earlier\nthis month has ushered in opportunities for both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka\nconcerning maritime security.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri\nLanka has recently been suffering from a foreign exchange reserve crisis. As\nper the latest reports, it has only USD 500 million in foreign exchange\nreserves. With this reserve, Colombo can’t meet its import expenses for three\nmonths. To keep the reserves risk-free, at least three months of import\nexpenditure has to be kept aside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh\nhas decided to lend USD 250 million to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka from its\nforeign exchange reserves. To this end, Bangladesh Bank is going to sign a\nmemorandum of understanding with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. According to\nSri Lankan media outlets, Bangladesh has already disbursed USD 50 million to\nSri Lankan authorities. This will pave the way for new multi-dimensional\neconomic relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nBangladesh government has taken the initiative to export 21 products to Sri\nLanka with duty-free facilities. At the same time, the two countries have\nstarted expanding bilateral trade, increasing investment, and developing their\nshipping and tourism industries.  Readymade garments, medicines, jute and\njute products, ceramics, juices, food products, vegetables, peppers,\nconstruction materials, melamine, paper and paper boards, flowers, plastic products,\nleather and leather products, shoes, soybean oil, potatoes, fertilizers and\ncosmetics from Bangladesh have a huge demand in the Sri Lankan market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nBangladesh government\u2019s efforts to get a duty-free market facility for the\nexport of these products show Sri Lanka is becoming increasingly important in\nincreasing regional trade. As a result of various initiatives, Bangladesh’s\ntrade relations with Sri Lanka will get further strengthened. The friendly\nrelations between the two nations are also playing an important role in\nincreasing trade and investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PM\nSheikh Hasina is very keen to strengthen ties with all South Asian countries.\nShe has been laying stress on economic diplomacy and ordered all government\nofficials to ensure maritime trade and blue economy are given precedence in the\ngovernment\u2019s agenda. There is huge potential in tapping marine resources in the\nBay of Bengal region; Sri Lanka can assist Bangladesh in this area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh\nhas taken the initiative, whose significance is huge, not just for the two\ncountries but for South Asia. Both states should now build upon their growing\nbusiness relations for mutual benefit.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MD Pathik Hasan Trade potential in multiple sectors: Many Bangladeshi products have bright potential in the Sri Lankan market. Similarly, there are huge possibilities for Lankan products in Bangladesh. Now it is high time to address the need to increase the participation of the private sector in the two countries. Sri Lankan entrepreneurs should invest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-md-pathik-hasan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}