Faruk Khan urges ESCAP member states to enhance cooperation to boost trade, investment in region
Dhaka, July 27 (UNB) - Commerce Minister Faruk Khan on Wednesday urged the ESCAP member states to increase cooperation to give a boost to trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. He made the appeal in his inaugural address at the second session of the ESCAP’s Committee on Trade and Investment held in Bangkok, according to a message received here.
Faruk Khan mentioned that the region has successfully recovered from the crisis due to global recession, which was led by strong growth in domestic demand, export and investment.
He said that Bangladesh was able to maintain positive export growth throughout the crisis and had robust export growth in the post-crisis period.
The Commerce Minister said that the remarkable achievement was made possible due to the adoption of appropriate and timely trade support polices by the government of Bangladesh under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The 21st century is the golden century for Asia, he said and emphasized on enhancing cooperation among the countries of Asia-Pacific region in order to bring prosperity in the region and make the region the centre of economic activities in the world.
Khan was leading a seven-member Bangladesh delegation which included Chairman of Tariff Commission and Ambassador of Bangladesh to Thailand.
Bangladesh was earlier elected as the Chair of the Second Session.
The deliberations of the Committee on Trade and Investment of the UN ESCAP started at Bangkok on July 25 and will continue till July 29 during which policymakers, business leaders and experts from Asia-Pacific countries were discussing trade and investment opportunities in the coming decade.
The opening session of the Committee on Trade and Investment was inaugurated by Noeleen Heyzer, Under-Secretary-General of United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP, Sarath Amunugama, Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation of Sri Lanka, and Yanyong Phuangrach, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce of Thailand.
Executive Secretary of ESCAP Noeleen Heyzer emphasized that trade and investment will continue to remain the leading forces of growth and poverty reduction in the region with increasing intra-regional trade.
She highlighted the enormous scope for expanding trade in services in particular in smaller countries which do not have the potential to establish large-scale manufacturing industries and the export potential of climate-smart goods in the region, which is between US$ 30-35 billion.
Later, Commerce Minister Faruk Khan attended the official launching on ‘Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2011: Post crisis Trade and Investment Opportunities’ published by ESCAP.
After the opening session, the Minister attended a highly interactive panel discussion on ‘Capturing trade and investment opportunities in the new decades’.
In the panel discussion, Faruk Khan shared some ideas of future action by ESCAP.
These include collective initiatives for diversification of export products and markets of Asia-Pacific countries in particular for least developed countries; cooperation in agriculture sector through technology transfer and development of infrastructure for upgrading standards and conformity assessment procedures and closer cooperation among the countries of Asia-Pacific region in service sector especially in infrastructure and capacity development in this sector.
Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) is holding a Trade and Investment Fair on the occasion. The Commerce Minister visited the Bangladesh booth.
Faruk Khan will return home tomorrow (Thursday).
Faruk Khan mentioned that the region has successfully recovered from the crisis due to global recession, which was led by strong growth in domestic demand, export and investment.
He said that Bangladesh was able to maintain positive export growth throughout the crisis and had robust export growth in the post-crisis period.
The Commerce Minister said that the remarkable achievement was made possible due to the adoption of appropriate and timely trade support polices by the government of Bangladesh under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The 21st century is the golden century for Asia, he said and emphasized on enhancing cooperation among the countries of Asia-Pacific region in order to bring prosperity in the region and make the region the centre of economic activities in the world.
Khan was leading a seven-member Bangladesh delegation which included Chairman of Tariff Commission and Ambassador of Bangladesh to Thailand.
Bangladesh was earlier elected as the Chair of the Second Session.
The deliberations of the Committee on Trade and Investment of the UN ESCAP started at Bangkok on July 25 and will continue till July 29 during which policymakers, business leaders and experts from Asia-Pacific countries were discussing trade and investment opportunities in the coming decade.
The opening session of the Committee on Trade and Investment was inaugurated by Noeleen Heyzer, Under-Secretary-General of United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP, Sarath Amunugama, Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation of Sri Lanka, and Yanyong Phuangrach, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce of Thailand.
Executive Secretary of ESCAP Noeleen Heyzer emphasized that trade and investment will continue to remain the leading forces of growth and poverty reduction in the region with increasing intra-regional trade.
She highlighted the enormous scope for expanding trade in services in particular in smaller countries which do not have the potential to establish large-scale manufacturing industries and the export potential of climate-smart goods in the region, which is between US$ 30-35 billion.
Later, Commerce Minister Faruk Khan attended the official launching on ‘Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2011: Post crisis Trade and Investment Opportunities’ published by ESCAP.
After the opening session, the Minister attended a highly interactive panel discussion on ‘Capturing trade and investment opportunities in the new decades’.
In the panel discussion, Faruk Khan shared some ideas of future action by ESCAP.
These include collective initiatives for diversification of export products and markets of Asia-Pacific countries in particular for least developed countries; cooperation in agriculture sector through technology transfer and development of infrastructure for upgrading standards and conformity assessment procedures and closer cooperation among the countries of Asia-Pacific region in service sector especially in infrastructure and capacity development in this sector.
Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) is holding a Trade and Investment Fair on the occasion. The Commerce Minister visited the Bangladesh booth.
Faruk Khan will return home tomorrow (Thursday).
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