‘Bangladesh seeks duty free access to Malaysia to minimise trade gap’

Staff Reporter :
There are huge trade gap with Malaysia, a Southeast Asian country, and that is why Bangladesh wants duty free access to minimise the gap.
Bangladesh imported $ 3,289.5 million goods from Malaysia in 2021-22 fiscal year, while the country exported only $337.81 million goods only during the same period.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi made the observation during a discussion with Malaysia’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh Haznah Md Hashim during a meeting at the Secretariat on Thursday.
Highlighting the trade deficit with Malaysia, the Commerce Minister said Bangladesh’s export to Malaysia will be enhanced if it gets duty free access to the Southeast Asian country.
“There is a trade deficit with Malaysia amounting to $ 2,951.69 million as Bangladesh imports various products from Malaysia including vegetable fat and a lot of palm oil. But it is not possible to export that much of Bangladeshi products to Malaysia due to a high tariff in their part. There is no alternative to increase the export of Bangladeshi products to Malaysia to meet this huge trade deficit,” Tipu Munshi said.
He said that Bangladesh has already sent a list of several exportable products to Malaysia for duty-free facilities to reduce the ongoing trade deficit and if this duty-free facility is available, the export of Bangladeshi products to the Malaysian market will increase.
Malaysian High Commissioner Haznah Hashim said, Malaysia is also interested in increasing trade and economic relations with Bangladesh.
Seeking a reduction in tax on cars, the high commissioner said Malaysia cannot export cars to Bangladesh due to a high tariff.
Among others, Additional Secretary (Export) to the Commerce Ministry Abdur Rahim and senior officials of the Ministry, Malaysian High Commission Councilor Anis Wajdi Md Yusoff and First Secretary Md Aszuan Bin ABD Samat were present during the meeting.