Bangladesh-Indonesia Preferential Trade Agreement Soon
Bangladesh is set to sign a preferential trade agreement very soon with Indonesia, the fifth biggest economy of Asia, Bangladesh's Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said Sunday.
Indonesian Envoy Heru Hartanto Subolo echoed the commerce minister's optimism about the trade deal and said progress has been made in this regard during a courtesy call on at the ministry office at the Secretariat.
The Bangladesh commerce ministry said the two countries had earlier formed a trade negotiation committee. The panel has already held three meetings while the fourth is expected to take place next month in Indonesia.
Bangladesh at present has a huge trade deficit with Indonesia. In the 2021-22 financial year, Bangladesh imported around 2.5 billion US dollar worth of products from Indonesia, according to Bangladesh Bank data. Exports to the Southeast Asian country was worth only 78.5 million dollar in the same period, as per Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).