KALADAN NEWS

Dated- Tue, June 03, 2003

A MEETING BETWEEN FBCCI AND UBFCCI

Cox’s Bazar, June 03: A meeting was held between

directors of Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of

Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) and the visiting

five-member Burma business delegations led by Union of

Burma Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (

UBFCCI ) president U Win Myint,  at the FBCCI

conference room yesterday, according to today Daily

Star.

In the meeting, the Bangladesh side identified that

the visa restrictions, lack of transportation, and

absence of effective transactions mechanism are the

major hurdles to the growth of business between

Bangladesh and Burma.

Some Bangladeshi business leaders said that they had

signed contracts with their Burma counterparts during

Bangladesh single country fair in Rangoon in March

this year. But they said no further progress has been

made so far.

Bangladesh business leaders also pointed to Burma’s

strict regulations, hindering growth of bilateral

trade with its next-door neighbour.

Bangladesh’s trade with Burma faces hurdle due to

stringent regulation requiring to export to a

destination before they can import anything from

there. Such regulation reduces trade, they said.

The business leaders said dearth of information is

also the barrier to minimizing trade imbalance between

Bangladesh and Burma.

“We do not have necessary information on Bangladeshi

products having good prospects in Burma market and

also the products of Burma which are demand here,” sad

A. Roul Chowdhury, Director of FBCCI.

The existing trade balance is in favour of Burma

according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

However, Chowdhury hopes the existing trade gap would

be in favour of Bangladesh after setting up road link

between the two countries.

Chowdhury also said there is enormous prospects of

improving trade relations between Bangladesh and

Burma, as they are the members of BIMSTEC.

Editor

Kaladan Press Network

E-mail: [email protected]