DHAKA, Mar 1, 2018 (BSS) – A three-day trade show started today in the city to display product of American companies in Bangladesh as well as give a boost to the bilateral trade between the two countries.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) and the United States embassy in Dhaka are jointly organizing the 25th “US Trade Show 2018” at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed inaugurated the event as the chief guest.
Speaking on the occasion, Tofail Ahmed urged the entrepreneurs of United States to come up with investment in Bangladesh. “Foreign entrepreneurs could make cent percent investment, and they can return back the investment and profit . . . the government has withdrawn double tax system for export items.”
Terming United States as large business partner, he said Bangladesh exports products of $ 7 billion and imports nearly $ 1 million annually but the country does not provide duty and quota free access to RMG of Bangladesh as per the WTO decision.
The minister said Bangladesh is going to graduate from the Least Developed Countries, resulting it will not be eligible for GSP in US market. “If necessary, Bangladesh could increase trade facilities through signing FTA with Unite States.”
In the show, more than 150 US companies, represented by 43 exhibitors from home and abroad at 72 booths are participating.
The participating US firms include Metlife, Coca-Cola, Pepsico International, Ford Motor, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Chevron, Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, HP, Intel, Cisco, Caterpillar, FedEx, Citi, Mastercard, Johnson & Johnson, YUM! Restaurants International and Visa.
Bell Helicopter, Burger King Corporation, Transfast and Uber Technologies are participating for the first time.
Besides the exhibition there will be four seminars. On March 2, seminars on “Doing Business in America: Business Visas” and “Doing Business in the Bangladesh: What Can the U.S. Embassy Do for Your Company” will take place.
The following day, two more seminars titled “USAID and Customs Portal Modernization Overview” and “Studying in America: Student Visas will also be organized.
The show opens to visitors from 10:00am to 8:00pm. Entry fee is Taka 30.
US ambassador to Bangladesh Mercia S Bernicat and acting president of the chamber Shadab Ahmed Khan, among others, were present.
The chamber, which began its journey in 1992, marked its 25th anniversary this year. Since the beginning of the US Trade Show, Bangladesh has experienced steady economic growth and progress, leading to an expansion of US-Bangladesh bilateral trade from $1 billion to more than $7 billion in 2017, a seven-fold increase.