Hasina prods Bangladesh private sector to diversify products, find new markets for export

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked the businesses to expand their product range and explore new markets.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 28 August 2016, 03:52 PM
Updated : 28 August 2016, 03:52 PM

She made the call at a function in Dhaka on Sunday to award the National Export Trophy of 2011-12 and 2012-13 financial years.

"Dependency on limited products is one of the main weaknesses of Bangladesh's export sector," she said.

"To overcome this problem, we are trying to add new products to the export cart and raise the export of less significant products," Hasina added.

The prime minister urged the businessmen to be entrepreneurial also.

"Please explore new markets. Export products will have to be diversified," she said.

Hasina urged them to pay more attention to products made of local raw materials and with more value.

She conferred the National Export Trophy of 2011-12 and 2012-13 fiscal years on 113 organisations.

For their performance in 2011-12 fiscal year, 24 companies got gold trophies, 18 silver and nine bronze.

As many as 26 firms got gold trophies, 18 silver and 15 bronze for 2012-13.

Hasina said average growth of export earnings was 12.52 percent since her government took charge in 2009.

"In terms of quantity, Bangladesh exported 6.91 billion units in 2015-16 fiscal. The amount was 2.44 billion units the previous fiscal year."

The prime minister said the government's friendly policy toward businesses along with the entrepreneurs' hard work and innovation helped the export grow.

The government provided around Tk 210 billion in export incentives in past seven years. The amount was Tk 6.02 billion in cash. It rose to Tk 40 billion in 2014-15.

The export target for 2021 has been fixed at $60 billion, including $50 billion from readymade garment sector alone.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed presided over the function. Commerce Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamun and FBCCI President Abdul Matlub Ahmad, among others, were present.