A bilateral meeting between the President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) Ashraf Ahmed and the Ambassador of Argentina in Bangladesh Marcelo Carlos Sesa was held on Sunday at DCCI.
During the meeting, President of Dhaka Chamber Ashraf Ahmed said that recently, the establishment of the permanent mission of Argentina in Bangladesh has created an opportunity to expand bilateral trade and investment between the two countries.
He said the amount of bilateral trade in the FY 2022-23 was USD 678.78 million, while the amount of import and export of Bangladesh was USD 663.34 million and USD 14.55 million respectively. The DCCI president invited Argentine companies to come to Bangladesh to do joint ventures with Bangladeshi counterpart in the pharmaceutical and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) industries to enjoy the incentives given by the Bangladesh government in this sector.
The DCCI President also requested Argentine importers to import more garment products from Bangladesh along with jute, jute goods, leather and leather products, medicine and plastic products. He also pointed out that the higher tariff while exporting from Bangladesh to Argentina might be re-considered by the relevant authority of that end to boost export in future.
Ashraf Ahmed also said that Bangladesh is doing very good in the IT industry, therefore, Argentina can import software and IT professionals from Bangladesh.
He later emphasized on arranging regular B2B match making meetings even in the online platform among the businessmen of both countries so that they can know each other’s market strength and demand.
DCCI President later informed the Ambassador that any Argentine company can avail the facility of DCCI’s commercial research on specific market or product to know the market potential.
Marcelo Carlos Sesa, Ambassador of Argentina in Bangladesh, said that despite the great potential of bilateral trade and investment, it has not reached to the desired level mainly due to the lack of communication between businessmen of the two countries.
He said that Argentina can play an important role as a 'hub' for Bangladesh's trade and investment in South American region.
He mentioned that the 'Marcosar' economic alliance has been formed comprising with 4 South American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay), who enjoy duty-free import-export benefit among them, and he encouraged Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to invest in Argentina to get this opportunity.
He requested DCCI to send a business delegation to Argentina to explore new window of opportunity.
He also suggested signing memorandum of understanding between Dhaka Chamber and Argentina’s leading Chambers and Associations to foster bilateral relation ahead.
DCCI Senior Vice President Malik Talha Ismail Bari, Vice President Md. Junaed Ibna Ali and Deputy Head of Mission of Argentina Embassy in Bangladesh Maximiliano ROMANELLO were also present at that time.
