Bangladesh and Pakistan on Thursday agreed to revitalise the joint economic commission and establishment of a trade and investment body to bolster economic cooperation between two nations separated after 24 years of co-existence in 1971.
Besides, the countries also agreed to make cooperation on production of intermediate raw materials to reduce dependency on imports.
Commerce adviser Sk Bashir Uddin said these after a bilateral meeting with the visiting Pakistani commerce minister Jam Kamal Khan at secretariat.
Earlier, commerce secretary Mahbubur Rahman said the bilateral engagements on trade and commerce related issue between two countries was almost nil over the past one and a half decades.
No meeting of the joint economic commission was held after 2005, according to the commerce ministry officials.
However, the trade engagement by private sectors of both the countries has been continued although the overall trade balance is disfavouring Bangladesh.
The country imported goods worth $787 million against export $78 million in the financial year 2024-25 and the import volume was of $661 million against the exports of $56 million in 2023-24.
Bangladesh mainly imports garment raw materials, leather, clinker, fabrics, cotton, onions, and potatoes from Pakistan against exports of tea, ready-made garments, and raw jute to the country.
The commerce adviser said they had asked the Islamabad to allow 1 crore kilogram of duty-free entry of tea from Bangladesh and lift the antidumping duty on locally made hydrogen peroxide.
Pakistan imposed the duty in 2015.
The commerce adviser hoped that the big trade gap would reduce if Islamabad meets the demands of Dhaka.
Asked to comment whether the growing bilateral trade co-operation between Bangladesh and Pakistan would decelerate the country鈥檚 trade ties with India further, the commerce adviser said his ministry was working to improve the trade advantages for the interest of the country.
Geo-political issues are dealt by foreign ministry and security advisers, said the commerce.
Answering another question whether two sides discussed anything regarding the financial dues Dhaka has been demanding to Islamabad after Bangladesh won Liberation War in 1971 against the Pakistani military force, the commerce adviser said those were not linked to trade.
The visiting Pakistan commerce minister who arrived in the capital on Wednesday night will hold meetings with top government representatives as well as leaders of business associations.
In addition, as part of his programme, he will visit Chattogram Port, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company, and a steel factory before concluding the tour on August 24.
The commerce adviser said that four memorandums of understanding were expected to be signed for boosting trade cooperation between the two nations.
Later on the day, Pakistan鈥檚 federal minister for commerce Jam Kamal Khan met with Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Taskeen Ahmed, reports UNB.
During the meeting Khan said that both Bangladesh and Pakistan predominantly rely on the apparel and textile sectors in terms of export.
He pointed out that in Europe, Canada and even in the United States, recently the demand for re-used clothes has surged a lot and it is getting popularity gradually.
Entrepreneurs of both Pakistan and Bangladesh can collaborate to tap this huge market.
The visiting commerce minister also noted that Pakistan has been performing well in manufacturing cement, sugar, footwear, and leather sectors, hence Bangladesh could consider importing these products from Pakistan.
He also said that Bangladesh has excelled in the pharmaceutical sector in the recent past and exchange of Bangladesh鈥檚 expertise with Pakistan especially in this sector would help a lot to grow the same sector in Pakistan.
He also mentioned that a 鈥楽ingle Country Exhibition鈥� of Pakistani products will soon be organised in Bangladesh, which will help strengthen bilateral relations between the private sectors of the two countries.
DCCI president Taskeen Ahmed said that people of both countries share many similarities in terms of culture, food and lifestyle.
Mentioning that Pakistan鈥檚 textiles and jewelry products have a great demand in Bangladesh, Taskeen said that Bangladesh鈥檚 private sector has consistently urged the government to sign Free Trade Agreements with different potential countries to promote trade and investment and an FTA between Bangladesh and Pakistan would further expand bilateral trade.
Direct passenger and cargo flights would enhance business connectivity between the two countries, he added.
Pakistan鈥檚 high commissioner to Bangladesh Imran Haider, DCCI senior vice-president Razeev H Chowdhury, vice-president Md Salem Sulaiman, members of the board of Directors and senior officials of the Pakistan High Commission in Bangladesh were also present during the meeting.
