The government is contemplating to sign a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Mauritius to enhance trade and commerce of products, especially garment and handcrafts, between the two countries.
Bangladesh officials had talks on the issue with their counterpart in Mauritius on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) in the first week of this month, said a senior official of the commerce ministry, who attended the meeting in Mauritius.
A 7-member delegation, led by Commerce Minister GM Quader, attended the meeting of IOR-ARC, a 20 nation alliance, during July 4-5. A joint communiqué on trade and investment was signed at the meeting.
Mauritius government wants more Bangladeshi workers for its garment sector and to attract the workers they were trying to widen the facilities, officials said.
Labour Minister of Mauritius Shakeel Mahamed is expected to visit Dhaka soon to sign an agreement with Bangladesh authorities to import manpower for their apparel industry.
Mauritius will recruit more male workers because the ratio of men to women is one to ten. It is estimated that at present 10,000 Bangladeshis are working in Mauritius and 9,000 of them are women, official sources said.
To facilitate their entry, Dhaka has reduced visa attestation fee for Mauritius, bringing down the manpower export cost.
