Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi has called upon South Korea to continue the duty-free export facility for Bangladesh to its market even after the country (Bangladesh) becomes a developing nation.
As per media reports, the Commerce Minister made this appeal during his meeting with South Korean Ambassador in Dhaka Lee Jang-Keun, in Dhaka, on 10 February (Wednesday) while also hoping for an increased South Korean investment in Bangladesh.
Underlining that if South Korea — South Korea offers duty-free trade benefits to developing countries — continues to offer the duty-free facility to Bangladesh even after it graduates to the status of a developing country in 2026, Tipu Munshi said it will help Bangladesh’s export earnings to increase while also reduce the trade gap between the two countries even as he maintained that South Korea has a significant amount of investment in Bangladesh and there are still scopes for further investment opportunities.
It may be mentioned here that in the 2018-2019 fiscal year, Bangladesh exported goods worth about US $ 370 million to South Korea while it imported goods worth some US $ 1,315 million from the latter, as per the Ministry of Commerce even as reports maintain that the main exporting items of Bangladesh to South Korea are leather, woven garments, jute, pharmaceuticals, etc.
South Korea is also a major investor in Bangladesh and also has a significant contribution to the country’s readymade garment industry with report suggesting that as early as in 1970s, Korean entrepreneurs came to Bangladesh and set up garment factories for export, giving the industry a boost.
