Bangladesh has entered into five bilateral and regional trade agreements to boost exports, trade, and investments with the aim of accelerating economic growth. However, apart from the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), the growth in exports to countries covered by these various trade deals has not been particularly robust.
This is as per media reports, which citing data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) added India stands out as the major country where Bangladesh has managed to increase its exports over the years, primarily due to the duty-free benefits extended by former to least-developed countries (LDCs), except for 25 specific products excluded under SAFTA.
Bangladesh’s exports to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries under SAFTA have doubled, reaching US $ 2.36 billion in the fiscal year 2022-23, compared to US $ 1.04 billion five years ago even as, meanwhile, exports to the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) under the Trade Preferential System have grown by 24 per cent to US $ 2.23 billion over the past five years.
In the case of the Developing-8 (D-8), an organisation consisting of eight Muslim-majority developing nations, Bangladesh’s exports have increased by 11 per cent, totaling US $ 1.07 billion since 2017-18.
