ASEAN ambassadors hold meeting with ICC Bangladesh president

Business Report :
ASEAN Ambassadors had a meeting with ICC Bangladesh President Mahbubur Rahman at ICC Bangladesh Secretariat here on Thursday.
The Ambassadors were briefed about the activities of ICC HQs and ICC Bangladesh as well as discussed promotion of bilateral trade and investment prospects of Bangladesh and ASEAN.

ICC Bangladesh President mentioned that ASEAN member states are home to a total of 661 million people with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $3.08 trillion and trade exceeding $2.7 trillion. So, there is a huge market for Bangladesh in ASEAN nations.

Bangladesh highly values the ASEAN community and the constructive role it plays in the global arena.

According to 2020 data, Bangladesh imports goods worth nearly US$7.0 billion from 10 ASEAN states – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

On the other hand, Bangladesh’s exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are still very paltry, less than $1.0 billion per annum, he added. Imports by Bangladesh from ASEAN is much more than its export.

Therefore, he urged the Ambassadors to use their good offices for increasing imports from Bangladesh to reduce the trade gap.

Sheela Pillai, Chair of ASEAN Dhaka Committee and Head of Mission, High Commission of the Republic of Singapore to Bangladesh thanked ICCB President for arranging the meeting and expressed her concern regarding trade gap. She gave importance to diversification of the export basket which will facilitate Bangladesh’s export to ASEAN countries.