Bangladesh to facilitate Nepal in bilateral trade

Kathmandu, Apr. 30: Vice-president and chief executive officer of the Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh Mafruha Sultana Sunday urged the government here to select Nepalese products with competitive and comparative advantage that could be supplied to the Bangladeshi market.

"Bangladesh is interested to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation to increase trade between the two neighbours. For it, we need to promote exports and goods. Bangladesh is a market with high potential for Nepalese goods," she said while speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the Bangladeshi furniture brand, Hatil, in Kathmandu.

Bangladeshi Ambassador to Nepal Mashfee Binte Shams said that bilateral, cultural and political relations between Nepal and Bangladesh couldn't be translated into robust trade relations and urged both the governments to find ways to enhance trade between the two countries.

She stated that exports from Nepal to Bangladesh had been reducing continuously while Bangladeshi items were being increasingly imported to Nepal.

The import trade from Bangladesh to Nepal has reached US$ 36 million from $11 million five years ago while Nepal’s export to Bangladesh has come down to 45 million dollars from 53 million dollars.

"I urge Nepalese entrepreneurs to capture the business opportunity in the Bangladeshi market," Said Shams.

Minister for Supply Dipak Bohara urged the Nepalese businessmen to seize the opportunity to export goods of competitive advantage to Bangladesh.

According to him, currently Bangladesh was providing duty free access to 57 Nepalese goods, which would be raised to 107 very soon.

Hatil furniture is manufactured by Hatil Complex Ltd in Bangladesh, and Akhil Trading Concern is the distributor for Nepal.

"We have 17 showrooms in Bangladesh and six abroad. Nepal is our seventh international destination," said Selim H. Rahman, managing director and chairman of Hatil.

Chairman of Akhil Trading, Akhil Kumar Chapagain, said that Hatil will cater to the needs of the Nepalese customer seeking high quality goods.