Bangladesh seeks Belarus support for quota free access to ECU

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam, MP, sought support of Belarus for the “duty free-quota free” access of Bangladeshi products to the Eurasian Economic Union (ECU) as there are ample of scopes for further expansion of bilateral trade and investments.

He had sought the assistance during bilateral official talks with his Belarusian counterpart Valentin Rybakob, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in Minsk as Belarus is a key member (other members are Russian Federation, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Armenia) of the ECU, said a message received here from Minsk this morning.

Both of them agreed that deeper economic cooperation should get main focus, as there are ample of scopes for further expansion of bilateral trade and investments.

State Minister Alam invited Belarusian investment in Bangladesh, where they could use Bangladesh as a regional hub between China, India and South East Asian Countries. He emphasized on frequent contacts and interactions between chambers of both countries through regular exchange of trade delegations.

The Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus mentioned about the delivery of Road-Construction Equipments by the Belarusian Company AMKODOR to the Local Government Division of Bangladesh under US$ 50 million Export Commodity Credit (soft loans) rendered through Promagroleasing (Belarusian Bank for International Development).

Alam expressed satisfaction and hoped that such joint venture would ensure transfer of technology and commence manufacturing of small and light engineering equipments as it has potential to have much wider impact on the growing bilateral economic cooperation between our two countries.

Earlier the State Minister visited the Council of the Republic National Assembly (i.e., Parliament) and met with the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and National Security Professor Dr. Sergey Rakhmaanov.

Dr Rakhmanov , who led a Parliamentary team to the 136th Session of IPU Assembly that was held in Dhaka early April, congratulated Bangladesh for successfully organized the IPU Assembly, which surely projected an enhanced global image for Bangladesh.

Earlier on 18 April, Bangladesh State Minister led a (7-member) Bangladesh business delegation at a Business Conference held at the Belarusian National Center for Marketing and Price Study and exchanged views with a representative business delegation of Belarus, led by the Center Director Ambassador Valery Sadokho.

Bangladeshi State Minister made a short presentation on Bangladesh economy and market competitiveness.

The Belarusian business delegation expressed their keen interest on trade, agriculture, agricultural machinery, electro-mechanical and power distribution equipments, road construction equipments and Potash fertilizer.

Alam visited the Khatyn Memorial, 54-km away from the capital Minsk, to pay tribute by placing floral wreath in memory of the almost three million Belarusians who died during the Great Patriotic War (WW II: 1941-1945).

The State Minister was accompanied by the Director General (Europe) of the Ministry of foreign Affairs and other officials of the Ministry and the Embassy of Bangladesh in Moscow (concurrently responsible for Belarus) during the visit.

Source: BSS