US-Bangladesh trade grows despite political, security concerns

Bangladesh’s political situation and the security alert issued by the US embassy have not created any “negative” impact on bilateral trade.

“I can tell you that the bilateral trade has increased by 8.5 percent in 2015. It’s a pretty substantial growth. It’s even faster than the rate of economic growth (in Bangladesh) as a whole,” Daniel Keen, economic officer of the US embassy, said.

He said the US mission was getting more queries from American companies on doing business in Bangladesh now than before due to the “awareness” that there is a “strong economic” growth here in Bangladesh.

“The rate of trade and goods is going faster. That means that it has not been negatively impacted,” he said, replying to a question at a press briefing on Tuesday ahead of the 24th US Trade Show that will begin on Thursday.

The US embassy is partnering with the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) to organise the three-day show at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel to promote economic ties.

Some 40 exhibitors will participate in the show against a background of the US embassy’s travel alert to its citizens. The number is fewer than in the last show in 2014, when 43 companies took part in this annual event.

The US embassy in Dhaka has been issuing travel alerts to its citizens since October when an Italian citizen was murdered in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone.

Andrea Brouillette-Rodriguez, Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs of the US Embassy, however, will not link this trade show participation with the security alert.

“This show is a huge undertaking. We have some incredible participants. We have quality here,” he said.

Khd Rashed Maqsood, chief adviser of the trade show committee, said the last fair was held at the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel where the space was “much bigger” than this year.

“Even then last year we saw that space was too tight. This year we have targeted reducing the space of the stalls so that we can give more space to visitors,” he said.

“A few companies could not come as they could not complete their internal process,” he said, replying to a question on the decrease in the number of fair participants.

“I don’t think that it’s a big decrease (from 43 to 40)”.

As in every year, Boeing, Coca-Cola Company, Ford Motor Company, Dell, IBM, and Microsoft are the major companies participating at the fair.

AmCham Secretary HN Ashikur Rahman said new companies like MasterCard International, Image Skin Care, Decatur Industries Inc, and some universities would come this year.

US-Bangladesh bilateral trade was less than $1 billion when the first trade show was held in 1992. Now it is close to $7 billion, with $6 billion worth of Bangladesh’s exports.

AmCham President Md Nurul Islam said this trade “show gives an opportunity for US companies to display their high quality goods and services”.

“It’s making a bridge between consumers in the country and US companies,” he said.

The US embassy earlier said it expected the show to attract over 10,000 participants to demonstrate the United States’ “commitment to deepening and broadening” the US-Bangladesh business relationship.

“The US Trade Show highlights the great American products available in Bangladesh and the strong partnership between US and Bangladeshi businesses,” Ambassador Marcia Bernicat was quoted as saying in a statement.

“We are delighted that bilateral trade in goods reached nearly $7 billion in 2015 and believe this event will help increase our trade,” she said.

The entry to the exhibition is Tk 20. However, students wearing uniforms and carrying ID cards will be given free entry.

There will be a raffle draw at the end with “attractive” prizes to lure more visitors, organisers say.