Biz-Econ

Bangladesh eyes New Zealand medicine, leather market

Bangladesh sees New Zealand as a potential big market for its medicine and leather goods as there is a demand for Bangladeshi goods in New Zealand market and the country offers duty free access for Bangladeshi products.Commerce Minister Tofael Ahmed said that New Zealand has expressed its interest to import medicine and leather goods from Bangladesh.“New Zealand is interested to boost trade with Bangladesh,” the minister told journalists as he emerged from a meeting with New Zealand High Commissioner to Bangladesh,  Graham Martin on Wednesday.Bangladesh exported the products worth $ 73.63 million in last year while imported products worth was $ 150.40 million.’World Trade Organization, an international organization to co-ordinate business among the nations, extended terms of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement for 17 more years, which sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP) regulation for the Least Development Countries (LDC).“Bangladesh as a LDC nation wants maximum utilization of the opportunity,” the Commerce minister said.He said that Bangladesh now exports medicine to 123 countries.“The demand is increasing day by day as the quality of Bangladeshi products is standard. Medicine is one of the products which export will get a boost as per the 7th Five-Year Plan,” he added.