ZCZC
BSS-31
TIPU-URUGUAY-TRADE
Tipu urges Uruguay to cut import duty
DHAKA, Aug 24, 2019 (BSS) – Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi urged Uruguay to
lower the import duty to ease the export of Bangladeshi readymade garment
(RMG) and few others items to its market.
He made the call at meetings with Uruguayan Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin
Novoa and Finance Minister Danilo Angel Astori in the country’s capital
Montevideo on Friday, said a commerce ministry press release here today.
Tipu told both the ministers that Bangladeshi RMG and few other items have
a good demand in the market of MERCOSUR, the southern common market
comprising Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. But, high import duty is
hindering the potential of those Bangladeshi goods in the market that is why
the duty needs to be lowered, he added.
The commerce minister, at the meetings, also mentioned that Free Trade
Agreement (FTA) proposal was placed by Bangladesh on November 2018 for the
MERCOSUR to boost trade.
Both the Uruguayan ministers assured the Bangladesh minister that the FTA
proposal would be placed in the next MERCOSUR Conference.
The minister also told the Uruguayan ministers that Bangladesh is
developing 100 economic zones with the initiative of Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina in Bangladesh and foreign investors could avail lucrative offers by
investing there.
Tipu Munshi invited Uruguayan businessmen to visit Bangladesh to find ways
to boost the bilateral trade between the two countries.
In the last fiscal, Bangladesh imported goods of US$ 13.30 million from
Uruguay against the exports of $11.67 million.
BSS/PR/MAK/ARS/1905 hrs