Country not ready yet to reap benefits from re-export: GM Quader
‘Deep seaport can make B’desh regional hub of re-export’
Dhaka, June 23 (UNB) – Despite having potentials for economic development through re-export, the country seems not ready yet to avail of it for lack of required physical infrastructure, port facilities, bureaucratic tangle and corruption, said the Commerce Minister.
“We’ve potentials. But are you (businesses) really ready for doing it right now? We don’t have required port facilities. We at least need a deep seaport. What we’ve now river ports,” Commerce Minister GM Quader told a seminar here on Saturday.
He said the country lacks proper connectivity with the neighbouring countries and required roads to avail of the re-exporting facilities. “Roads are not enough. These are already overcrowded. So, we’re not in a position to do that (re-exporting).”
GM Quader also mentioned the tendency of wrong-declaration of goods while making import and export as one of the barriers to re-export.
At the same time, he said, the government needs to calculate on how much the government and people will be benefited through re-export.
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) jointly arranged the seminar titled ‘Re-Export: New opportunity’ at the DCCI conference room.
Re-export means the export of an imported product within a specific period of time with a value addition of at least 10 percent to the imported price by changing the quality or shape or both of the products by means of local reprocessing.
Bangladesh Tariff Commission Chairman Dr. M Mozibur Rahman, Senior Research Fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Vice Chairman of Export Promotion Bureau Shubhashish Bose, DCCI director Osama Taseer and convener of the DCCI Standing Committee on Export Andaleeb Hasan, among others, spoke at the seminar.
The DCCI president Asif Ibrahim presided over it while co-convener of the DCCI Standing Committee on Export MS Siddiqui presented the keynote paper.
Speaking as the special guest, Dr. Mozibur said Bangladesh could be regional hub of re-export if it had a deep seaport. “Re-export is a good option for business development. It could be a regional hub of re-export if there is a deep seaport.”
He admitted that there are some problems that might hinder re-export opportunities. “Yes, we’ve inefficient bureaucracy. We’ve some policy-related and administrative problems apart from lack of proper scanning facilities.”
The Tariff Commission chief also said if transparency in customs can not be ensured and miss-declaration of goods is not stopped, re-export of goods will become difficult. “We can create a very beautiful regional hub if the problems are addressed.”
In his address, Golam Moazzem said huge investment, including required market research, would be needed to avail of the benefits of re-export.
“We must have an analysis on what will be return and cost of re-export. It needs to be calculated to know the actual gain,” he added.
Asif Ibrahim said re-export is a big promise for economic development in the country and it also has the potential to facilitate trades for land locked Nepal, Bhutan or other land-locked Indian states in the Northeast.
“There’s usually a great need of capital investment for this kind of businesses to flourish,” he added.
The DCCI President stressed on identifying the actual reasons of non-implementation of the re-export policies and their probable solutions.
“We’ve potentials. But are you (businesses) really ready for doing it right now? We don’t have required port facilities. We at least need a deep seaport. What we’ve now river ports,” Commerce Minister GM Quader told a seminar here on Saturday.
He said the country lacks proper connectivity with the neighbouring countries and required roads to avail of the re-exporting facilities. “Roads are not enough. These are already overcrowded. So, we’re not in a position to do that (re-exporting).”
GM Quader also mentioned the tendency of wrong-declaration of goods while making import and export as one of the barriers to re-export.
At the same time, he said, the government needs to calculate on how much the government and people will be benefited through re-export.
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) jointly arranged the seminar titled ‘Re-Export: New opportunity’ at the DCCI conference room.
Re-export means the export of an imported product within a specific period of time with a value addition of at least 10 percent to the imported price by changing the quality or shape or both of the products by means of local reprocessing.
Bangladesh Tariff Commission Chairman Dr. M Mozibur Rahman, Senior Research Fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Vice Chairman of Export Promotion Bureau Shubhashish Bose, DCCI director Osama Taseer and convener of the DCCI Standing Committee on Export Andaleeb Hasan, among others, spoke at the seminar.
The DCCI president Asif Ibrahim presided over it while co-convener of the DCCI Standing Committee on Export MS Siddiqui presented the keynote paper.
Speaking as the special guest, Dr. Mozibur said Bangladesh could be regional hub of re-export if it had a deep seaport. “Re-export is a good option for business development. It could be a regional hub of re-export if there is a deep seaport.”
He admitted that there are some problems that might hinder re-export opportunities. “Yes, we’ve inefficient bureaucracy. We’ve some policy-related and administrative problems apart from lack of proper scanning facilities.”
The Tariff Commission chief also said if transparency in customs can not be ensured and miss-declaration of goods is not stopped, re-export of goods will become difficult. “We can create a very beautiful regional hub if the problems are addressed.”
In his address, Golam Moazzem said huge investment, including required market research, would be needed to avail of the benefits of re-export.
“We must have an analysis on what will be return and cost of re-export. It needs to be calculated to know the actual gain,” he added.
Asif Ibrahim said re-export is a big promise for economic development in the country and it also has the potential to facilitate trades for land locked Nepal, Bhutan or other land-locked Indian states in the Northeast.
“There’s usually a great need of capital investment for this kind of businesses to flourish,” he added.
The DCCI President stressed on identifying the actual reasons of non-implementation of the re-export policies and their probable solutions.
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