Commercial Minister Khandaker Abdul Muktadir believes that it is possible to increase the current export revenue of $50-55 billion to $150 billion in the future if some of the country's promising industrial sectors can be developed in a planned manner.
He expressed this as chief guest at a workshop titled “Competitiveness Assessment Study of Potential Private Sectors of Bangladesh” held at the Cirdap Auditorium in the capital on Tuesday.
The minister said that Bangladesh has already fulfilled all the conditions for graduating from the status of a least developed country (LDC). Now the biggest challenge is to survive in global competition in the post-graduation period and further strengthen the country's position in the international market.
"If specific strategies and long-term plans are adopted focusing on five to seven potential sectors, it is possible to bring about a radical change in the country's export economy. There is an opportunity to increase the current export earnings of $50-55 billion to $150 billion."
To achieve this goal, he emphasized on developing skilled human resources, increasing investment in research and innovation, and quickly adapting the industrial sector to modern technology.
The commerce minister specifically highlighted the potential of leather, light engineering, and jute-based industries and said that initiatives are being taken to transform the existing infrastructure in these sectors into international standard skill development centers. If these centers are operated in collaboration with internationally renowned institutions, the competitiveness of the domestic industry will increase significantly.
Regarding the jute sector, he said, if emphasis is given to the production of value-added jute products and jute fabrics instead of exporting raw jute, it is possible to increase export earnings several times. Initiatives are being taken to increase international cooperation to strengthen research, technology development, and innovative activities in this sector.
Calling for an effective partnership between the government, private sector and academia, he said that there should be a system for evaluating the results at each stage of project implementation, learning from the experiences of developed countries.
Commerce secretary Md Ataur Rahman Khan said that an initiative has been taken to undertake an integrated project worth about Tk3,000 crore to address the challenges post-LDC transition and increase the country's export capacity.
He said that in the second phase of the project, a sector-wise action plan will be formulated based on the opinions of entrepreneurs and business organizations of various industrial sectors.
The secretary further said that special emphasis will be given to business facilitation, digitalization, policy support and simplification of various processes.
The issue of running the project under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce and involving the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) as the implementing agency, if necessary, is being considered.
