Commerce Minister Faruk Khan Thursday told the Jatiya Sangsad that the country exported goods worth US dollar 15 billion during the 2008-'09 fiscal year with an 11 per cent rise over the previous year's level, reports BSS.

The surge in exports during the last fiscal year (FY) was possible despite global economic recession at that moment when most of the countries suffered setback in their external trade, he said while replying to a supplementary question from treasury bench lawmaker Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury Babu.

The minister said the country's trade gap with India was at present Tk 170 billion. The present government had taken various measures to increase Bangladesh's exports to India. "As part of it, many land ports with Indian borders including that in Akhaura have been opened," he said.

Replying to a question from treasury bench lawmaker Dhirendra Devnath Shambhu, the minister said the target for exports of Bangladeshi products to Myanmar had been increased to $30,000 from $10,000.

Despite complicacies in exchange rate of currencies with Myanmar, the government was trying to further raise Bangladesh's exports to that country, he added.

Replying to a question from treasury bench lawmaker Md Jasim Uddin, Faruk Khan said the country achieved cent per cent export target for readymade garments (RMG) during 2008-'09 fiscal year. "The country fetched Tk 864.3439 billion from exports of RMG products during the last fiscal year," he added.