Govt plans BTC in Dubai to tap Asian, African export markets

Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

The government is planning to open another Bangladesh Trade Centre (BTC) abroad, this time in Dubai, to tap Asian and African export markets.

Dubai is a business hub where Asian and African businesses have their offices and Bangladeshi exporters can have direct communications with them through the centre, commerce minister M Faruk Khan told the FE on Thursday.

The Dubai centre will be opened next year, he said.

The first ever BTC will be opened on November 29 in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the centre.

The Port of Spain BTC will be run by a Bangladeshi businessman and he will bring business from the countries in the Caribbean, South and Latin Americas and earn commission from the total business turnover, the commerce minister said.

"The government will support him financially for six months and from June he will bear all office expenses," he added.

The office will have state-of-the-art facility and local exporters can hold video conference with importers of the region, Mr Faruk said.

When asked why Bangladesh is opening a trade centre at such a location where it does not have much trade relations, he said the objective is to expand market for Bangladesh products in the Caribbean, South and Latin Americas.

"We have big markets in the US and EU and also have presence in Africa and Asia but we do not have trade relations with countries in the Caribbean, Latin and South Americas," he said.

"The main objective is to tap and diversify the market," he added.

Special incentives will be given to exporters for product and market diversification under a stimulus package, he said.

The BTC at the Port of Spain will be able to furnish information on the country's trade, history, tradition and culture.

The trade centre has been set up on a 1,000 sqf office space, provided free of cost by Bangladesh's honorary consul general Razei Azad Rahman for five years, the minister said.