Bangladesh, Cambodia eye trade expansion

Cambodia has agreed to expand bilateral trade with Bangladesh as representatives from both countries met about it in Phnom Penh, the capital of the Southeast Asian country.

Bangladesh commerce minister Tofail Ahmed and his Cambodian counterpart Pan Sorasak represented their countries during the meetings.

A high level Bangladesh business delegation was also part of the meetings focusing on trade expansion.

Tofail Ahmed briefed the Cambodian Commerce and the business leaders from Phnom Penh about the investment opportunities that Bangladesh government offers to foreign investors.

He also mentioned that Cambodia can import medicines, leather products, jute goods from Bangladesh.

Both the leaders also discussed about taking further follow-up actions for implementation of the decisions taken during the last visit of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina to Cambodia in last December.

They also agreed to actively consider on singing bilateral agreement to expand trade between the two countries, according to a media statement on.

The Cambodian Commerce minister accepted the invitation of Commerce Minister Toafail Ahmed to visit Bangladesh with a group of business leaders to further explore possibilities of identifying areas for promotion of trade and investment.

The Bangladesh business delegation includes ICC Bangladesh president Mahbubur Rahman, Vice President  Rokia Afzal Rahman; Mohammad Fazlul Azim ,chairman, Azim Group; Abdul Hai Sarker ,managing director, Shohagpur Textile Mills Limited; Mohd. Arshad Ali, managing director, The Merchants Limited; Md Fazlul Hoque, managing director Plummy Fshion; Matiur Rahman,chairman & managing director, Uttara Group of Companies and Mohammed Abdul Awwal, chairman ,Bengal Shipping Line Ltd; ICC Bangladesh secretary general Ataur Rahman and general manager Ajay Bihari Shah.

After the bilateral meeting the two ministers inaugurated a three-day Workshop on International Trade Finance and Development of Global Value Chains in Phnom Penh from 25-27 April.

The workshop has been organised by ICC Bangladesh jointly with the Trade, Training and Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia, Institute of Banking and Finance of Cambodia and Asian Development Bank.

Saida Muna Tasneem, ambassador of Bangladesh to Thailand & Cambodia, also spoke during the inaugural session.

The workshop was attended by 140 participants, including 51 bankers from Bangladesh commercial banks, 35 bankers from Cambodia, three from Myanmar and Thailand and 50 participants from Ministry of Commerce Cambodia & SMEs.