Bangladesh will focus on reducing the trade gap in negotiations with the Trump administration, said Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, speaking about his coming trip to the US.
“We’ll put more emphasis on reducing the trade gap between the US and Bangladesh. Currently, we export more than the amount they export to Bangladesh”, he told reporters after the two consecutive meetings of the Advisers Council Committee on Economic Affairs (ACCEA) and Advisers Council Committee on Government Purchase (ACCGP) on Thursday.
A Bangladesh delegation, led by the finance adviser, is scheduled to leave for the US on Saturday to attend the Spring Meeting-2025 of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). It will return home on April 29.
Salehuddin, however, said it might not be possible to bring the gap to a zero level right at this moment.
“But we’ll try to increase the imports from the US. We can import more energy products, capital machinery from the US”, he said.
He added that Bangladeshi officials will mainly discuss with US officials, especially the US Treasury Department in this regard.
He also said that the Bangladesh team will hold meetings with about 70 US companies, including Chevron. There will be multilateral-level meetings with the US private sector beyond the US government officials.
“We’ll sit with the US companies to discuss how we can raise our imports from the US. The opening of the GSP by the US will receive extra focus in our efforts,” he said.
He also said that the Bangladesh delegation will meet the World Bank and other international multilateral donor agencies like the IMF and ADB.
“We will discuss getting some budget support from them. Two agreements might be signed with the World Bank”, he added.
